Federal authorities arrested a man Friday who allegedly sent Facebook messages to a Florida resident in which he threatened to kill her and called for the “extermination” of all Latino people.
The Department of Justice charged Eric Lin, 36, of Maryland with making threatening communications and sending multiple racist, hateful, and violent Facebook messages to an unidentified restaurant worker in Miami-Dade County between May 30 and July 20. He allegedly threatened to rape, “enslave,” and kill her, as well as kill all Latino people in Miami and elsewhere.
“I will stop at Nothing until you, your family, your friends, your entire WORTHLESS LATIN RACE IS RACIALLY EXTERMINATED,” Lin said in one of the messages to the Spanish woman, according to court documents.
The victim told authorities that she knew Lin because he frequented the restaurant where she worked and had made statements that were similar to the Facebook messages he allegedly sent her, including discussions about mass shootings and his idolization of Adolf Hitler.
Lin also appeared to be a supporter of President Trump's.
“Our Great President Donald John Trump is too Nice of Man,” one Facebook message said. “But I will say it, All you Spics, Niggers, and Muslim Hating ‘Americans’ will be Killed!”
Another message said, “Thank God everyday President Donald John Trump is President and that he will launch a Racial War and Crusade to keep the Niggers, Spics, and Muslims and any dangerous non-White or Ethnically or Culturally Foreign group ‘In Line’ By In Line’ it is meant they will either be sent to ‘Concentration Camps’ or dealt with Ruthlessly and Vigorously by the United States Military.”
Lin allegedly threatened to carry out a mass shooting targeting Latino people, saying in one message: “Should I decide to kill all you spics no power on earth is going to stop me. I’m cool calm calculating and methodical. I will be carrying a Rifle hand gun and SS my honor is called loyalty dagger.”
In another message, he allegedly said, “I look forward to committing a ‘Genocide,’” adding that “the Time will come when Miami will burn to the ground [and] every Latin Man be lined up against a Wall and shot and every Latin Woman Raped or Cut to pieces.”
He allegedly referred to Latino people as “anti white” and “anti American” in some messages and warned of “a White Holy Racial War in the United States of America.”
According to court documents, Lin offered an unidentified person on Facebook $10,000 to go to Miami and beat up “this Spic who insulted me,” referring to one of the restaurant employee’s coworkers. The person replied, “Sure pay me first Paypal or Zelle.”
Lin also offered $25,000 to the person to kidnap the restaurant worker, chain her, put her in a plastic bin, and drive her to Seattle, the court documents said.
“You don’t need to kill her ... hurt her so at most you will be charged with Kidnapping,” Lin reportedly said in the message. He assured the person that he wouldn’t get in trouble for kidnapping her because “she’s a Spic who Hates White Americans... I doubt the FBI would care much about her.”
Lin’s arrest in Seattle comes two weeks after a gunman — fueled by an intense hatred for immigrants and Mexicans — allegedly killed 20 people and injured dozens of others at a crowded mall in El Paso, Texas. In an online manifesto, the suspected shooter said the attack was in response to a "Hispanic invasion" of Texas and that he was “defending my country from cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by an invasion.”
Hours after the El Paso shooting, a gunman killed nine people and injured 27 others in Dayton, Ohio. While authorities have not established a motive for that shooting, Trump and his supporters have pointed to the gunman's "leftist" leanings and support for Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, based on his purported Twitter account.
Since the two shootings, a spate of men have been arrested across the country for threatening to carry out mass shootings. Last week, a Maryland man was indicted on the same federal charge as Lin after he made several calls to a synagogue employee, threatening to kill many members of the Jewish congregation. On Saturday, police in Ohio arrested a self-avowed white nationalist, who had a cache of weapons, for threatening in an Instagram post to attack a Jewish community center.
Lin’s public defender did not immediately return a request for comment.