'Trump Needs To Die': Man Who Bought Guns and Vowed To Assassinate the President Headed to Prison

A Pennsylvania man who spent months posting online that 'Trump needs to die' and boasting he was buying guns is heading to federal prison after admitting he threatened to assassinate President Donald Trump and other US officials.

Prosecutors said Shawn Monper, of Butler County, made a string of violent YouTube comments between January and April 2025 targeting Trump, federal law enforcement and immigration agents.

The Donald Trump threats were posted under the alias 'Mr Satan', where he claimed he was 'stocking up on ammo' and preparing for violence.

Investigators linked the account to Monper's home and uncovered a rapid series of gun purchases that mirrored his rhetoric. At sentencing, a federal judge ordered him to serve four years behind bars, followed by three years of supervised release.

How the Donald Trump Threats Escalated Online

On 10 February 2025, Monper wrote that 'If Trump isn't removed immediately, we will see another civil war,' according to the federal indictment.

By the end of that month, he had escalated further, declaring: 'Private army in the US = Terrorist, we need to rise up and use the 2nd Amendment against these people. I have bought several guns and been stocking up on ammo since Trump got in office. I suggest everyone else does the same.'

Investigators say he had, in fact, bought a 9 mm handgun in between those two posts. The pattern did not stop there. Court records state that on 1 March 2025, Monper posted: 'I bought a gun. Ready to kill nazis.'

A week later he purchased another handgun, then a third on 16 March, while continuing to urge others to arm themselves. On 17 March he wrote: 'Everyone arm yourselves now. We need to kill them all, it's the only way Nazis go away.'

Three days after that, he added that he had been 'buying 1 gun a month since the election, body armour, and ammo', a boast that prosecutors used to show his online bravado was not just empty talk.

The most explicit threats appeared across February, March and early April. On 17 February 2025, he posted that 'we just need to start killing people, Trump, Elon, all the heads of agencies Trump appointed, and anyone who stands in the way', before invoking 'American Revolution 2.0'.

On 4 March, the rhetoric turned deeply personal: 'I'm gonna assassinate him myself,' he wrote about Trump, according to court filings.

By 1 April, he was asking: 'When are we going to stand up and kill these people?' and on 5 April added the blunt line that gave this case its headline: 'That's why Trump needs to die.'

Guns, Permits and a Swift Federal Response

Investigators say the keyboard threats were accompanied by real‑world preparations. Authorities in Pennsylvania confirmed that just five days after Trump's 20 January inauguration, Monper applied for a concealed carry permit. Records show it was granted on 28 January 2025.

In the weeks that followed, he bought multiple handguns, and prosecutors argued in court that the purchases tracked almost in real time with his escalating posts about killing 'Nazis', officials and law enforcement.

The FBI and local officers in Butler Township moved quickly once the National Threat Operations Section flagged the YouTube comments.

On 9 April 2025, FBI agents and Butler Township Police arrested Monper at his home. The US Attorney's Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania later laid out a timeline showing he had posted threats against Trump, other United States officials and ICE agents between 15 January and 5 April 2025.

Some of the comments were directed specifically at immigration officers, including a March post that read: 'ICE are terrorist people, we need to start killing them.'

Officials involved in the case have been unusually blunt about why they acted so fast. 'The speed with which Monper was identified, charged, arrested, and detained before he had the opportunity to act on his violent threats demonstrates our joint commitment to protecting those who serve our country,' US Attorney Troy Rivetti said in a statement announcing the sentence.

He added that the punishment 'not only ensures that Monper will be in prison and under judicial supervision for years to come, but also sends a strong message to deter others from making such threats'.

Judge's Sentence for Man Who Threatened To Assassinate Donald Trump

Monper, now in his early thirties, pleaded guilty in April to two felony counts of threatening to assault and murder United States officials and federal law enforcement officers.

Prosecutors said the charges were framed to reflect that he intended to 'impede, intimidate, interfere with, and retaliate against' those officials while they carried out their duties.

US District Judge W Scott Hardy then sentenced him to four years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. The judge did not, at least in the public record, dwell on Monper's politics, focusing instead on the gravity of threatening the president and others.

Federal law treats threats against public officials as serious offences, even when they are made from behind a keyboard.

'The United States Attorney's Office and law enforcement within this district take threats against public servants and law enforcement very seriously,' Rivetti said after sentencing.

'Serious offences will be met with serious consequences,' added FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Richard Evanchec, who warned that 'anyone threatening elected officials and law enforcement will not be able to hide behind a profile name.'

Monper's case unfolded in the same county where Trump survived an assassination attempt while campaigning in 2024. That coincidence was not part of the charges, but it hung in the background, a reminder that wild online rhetoric can spill into real‑world violence.

Prosecutors argued that by the time the FBI moved in, Monper had spent months telling the internet he was buying 'one gun a month' and that he was ready to 'assassinate' the president himself.

The case began in early 2025, shortly after Trump's second inauguration as president on 20 January.

According to court documents and statements from federal prosecutors, the FBI's National Threat Operations Section received an emergency disclosure on 8 April 2025 about a YouTube user calling himself 'Mr Satan'.

That account had been posting repeated calls for violence since mid January, often in response to videos discussing Trump and his administration. Investigators later traced the online activity to Monper's address in Butler County, about an hour north of Pittsburgh.

The court did not treat him as a terrorist mastermind, and there has been no suggestion from authorities that he belonged to any organised group. What they did say, repeatedly, is that the line between protected speech and a prosecutable Donald Trump threat is not as blurry as some people on YouTube seem to think.