Texas man arrested for threatening New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani
A Texas man has been arrested for allegedly making Islamophobic remarks and issuing death threats against New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who currently leads in recent Democratic primary polls, authorities said.
Jeremy Fiastel, 44, was taken into custody in Texas by the US Marshals Service and the NYPD’s Regional Fugitive Task Force. Investigators linked him to four threatening phone calls made to Mamdani’s Queens office. He has been charged with making terroristic threats and faces enhanced penalties for a hate crime.
According to investigators, the calls included warnings such as, “Start your car and see what happens,” and threats telling him to “Go back to Uganda or you and your family will be harmed.” The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force said the threats were part of a month-long campaign of harassment. Mamdani has since been assigned a security detail.
In a statement, Mamdani’s campaign said: “We are grateful to District Attorney Melinda Katz’s office for taking this matter seriously. Sadly, such threats have become far too common—reflecting the broader climate of hate in our city.”
If elected, the 33-year-old Mamdani would become New York City’s first Muslim mayor. Born in Uganda, he moved to the city with his family at the age of seven. His campaign has previously described the messages as “disturbing” and symptomatic of growing Islamophobia in the country. Despite the threats, the assemblyman remains focused on building “a safer, more affordable New York,” his campaign added.
The arrest comes just a week after the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, which shocked the nation. It marks the latest in a series of politically motivated acts of violence in recent years.
Since 2021, the US has seen at least six high-profile attacks, including two assassination attempts on Donald Trump in 2024. In 2022, Paul Pelosi, husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was attacked in his San Francisco home by an intruder who admitted he intended to kidnap her. Earlier this year, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro narrowly escaped an arson attempt at his residence, and in June, Minnesota House Democratic leader Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot dead in their home, while the attacker also wounded State Senator John Hoffman and his wife.
