Local News

Calif. man to face federal charges for threats to Mass. companies that led to evacuation

Prosecutors charged Daniel Nguyen, of San Francisco, with transmitting a threat using interstate commerce. He allegedly threatened two Massachusetts companies, saying he was going to “shoot them up.”

Authorities arrested a California man accused of leaving multiple threatening messages to various Massachusetts companies, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in a statement on Friday.

Court documents show suspect Daniel Nguyen made five threatening phone calls to companies in Massachusetts from January to February of 2024. Investigators withheld the names of the targeted companies from court documents for privacy reasons, records show. 

The first call was made on Jan. 12, records said. An affidavit from an FBI agent on the case detailing the nature of the threats said Nguyen claimed he had an AK-47 and allegedly threatened to “shoot up” the offices of one company. Later in the day, he made a similar threat to the same company, saying their offices were going to be “a bloodbath,” the affidavit said. 

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The following day, Nguyen allegedly pretended to be a disgruntled client and said “every employee is going to get shot dead,” in two separate messages sent to a different, Massachusetts-based company, documents said. 

Then in February, Nguyen allegedly called the first company and made one more threat, once again threatening to “shoot up” the office with an AK-47, the affidavit said.

The affidavit said both companies temporarily evacuated their offices after they received the threats.

Nguyen, from San Francisco, has been previously arrested for making similar threats, according to the affidavit. Police records said Nguyen allegedly sent threatening, racially-motivated emails to a San Francisco office and a Nevada school in 2018. The emails allegedly contained racial slurs and violent threats, court documents said.

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The affidavit said federal agents arrested Nguyen on Sept. 4 and recovered a cell phone believed to have been the source of the threatening messages to both the Massachusetts companies and the racist emails.

Prosecutors charged him with transmitting a threat in interstate commerce. If convicted, Nguyen could serve up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine, the statement said.

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Eva Levin is a general assignment co-op for Boston.com. She covers breaking and local news in Boston and beyond.

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