Man Arrested After Threatening to Commit Shooting at Abilene Pride Event

ABILENE, TX — A Texas man accused of threatening to commit a shooting at an Abilene pride event was arrested by the FBI, according to multiple reports.

Joshua Cole of Anson — a small town about 25 miles northwest of Abilene — allegedly commented on a Facebook post containing details of a gay pride event in Abilene on Sept. 20 and said he wanted to "pay them back for taking out Charlie Kirk," according to an affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Kirk, a prominent conservative activist, was killed Sept. 10 while speaking with college students at an event in Utah.

Posting under the name "Jay Dubya," Cole also allegedly wrote, "there's only like 30 of em we can send a clear message to the rest of them."

When the Abilene Police Department made a traffic stop on Cole, he admitted he runs a Facebook account under the name Jay Dubya, and that he was behind the comments, the criminal complaint alleged. 

He told officers that he did not believe that the gay pride event should be allowed, according to the court document, but denied that he was going to shoot parade participants.

Cole also admitted that he has a firearm. It wasn't clear whether he legally owns it.

"The threats were not conditional. The threats were specific," FBI Special Agent Samuel C. Venuti wrote in the affidavit. "The threats were also specific to a particular set of victims: people participating in the gay pride parade. With this level of specificity, Cole's comments were not mere idle or careless talk, exaggeration, or something said in only a joking manner."

Venuti wrote that he visited Cole's former employer, who told him Cole had recently quit his job and "stormed out of the facility in anger." He had worked for the employer for over a year, Venuti wrote, and was described by coworkers as a "hot head."

Cole was booked into Taylor County Jail in Abilene on Sept. 19. He was previously arrested in 2019 on a terroristic threat charge, according to jail records.

Jail records show Cole was released from Taylor County Jail on Sept. 24. The next day, the court concluded that Cole must be detained pending trial for reasons including his prior criminal history, that the weight of evidence against him is strong and that his release poses "serious danger to any person or the community."

It wasn't immediately clear whether Cole had been released prior to the decision or whether he was transferred to another facility.