What Was Ilhan Omar Sprayed With? Crime Lab Tests Mystery Liquid After Syringe Assault

A man walked up to Rep Ilhan Omar at a Minneapolis town hall on Tuesday night and sprayed her with an unknown brown liquid from a syringe. Security tackled him within seconds. Now, forensic scientists are trying to work out what was in it.

Anthony Kazmierczak, 55, shouted at the Minnesota congresswoman before dousing her with the substance at the Urban League Twin Cities facility. Officers already at the event arrested him on the spot and booked him into Hennepin County Jail on suspicion of third-degree assault, per the Associated Press.

An AP journalist present at the event said the liquid smelled strongly of vinegar. Photos of the syringe showed something light brown inside. Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw got splashed too, along with State Senator Bobby Joe Champion, ABC News reported.

Fortunately, no one in the crowd of about 100 showed any adverse physical reaction.

Police spokesperson Trevor Folke confirmed investigators processed the scene but gave no details on what the substance actually was.

Omar Refuses to Leave, Speaks for 25 More Minutes

Following the incident, people in the crowd urged Rep. Omar to get checked out, but she refused.

After a brief pause, she went back to the microphone and kept going for another 25 minutes. A medical team screened her afterward. She told reporters as she left that she had survived war as a child fleeing Somalia. This was not going to intimidate her.

Attack Came Seconds After Omar Called for Abolishing ICE

The timing was striking. Kazmierczak struck mere moments after Omar demanded the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and called for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign or face impeachment, CBS News reported.

Minneapolis has become ground zero in the battle over federal immigration enforcement. ICU nurse Alex Pretti was killed by Border Patrol agents on 24 January. Seventeen days earlier, Renee Good was fatally shot behind the wheel of her vehicle on 7 January. Both were US citizens. Both were 37. Their deaths have triggered protests across the city and growing bipartisan calls for Noem to step down.

Trump Says Omar Staged the Attack

Hours before the attack, President Donald Trump went after Omar at a rally in Iowa. He told the crowd that immigrants must prove they love the country and singled her out as someone who does not. Somalia, where she was born, was not even a country, he claimed. The crowd booed at the mention of her name.

Asked about the attack, Trump floated a conspiracy theory. He called Omar a fraud and suggested she had arranged to be sprayed herself. He said he had not bothered to watch the video, ABC News reported. He offered no evidence.

Threats Against Congress Hit Record High

The attack came the same day the US Capitol Police released new figures showing threats against lawmakers have surged for the third year running. The agency investigated 14,938 cases in 2025, up from 9,474 in 2024 and 8,008 the year before that, NBC News reported.

Omar is not the only member of Congress attacked this month. Rep Maxwell Frost of Florida was punched in the face at the Sundance Film Festival last week by a man who allegedly told him Trump was going to deport him. Capitol Police said the assault on Omar would be met with swift justice.

Republican Rep Nancy Mace, who has clashed with Omar repeatedly, condemned the attack. No elected official should face physical violence regardless of political disagreements, she said. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called it unacceptable.

Governor Tim Walz said the cruel, dehumanising rhetoric from the nation's leaders needed to stop.