FBI, Georgia officials arrest suspect in New York for death threat against Collins, son-in-law

The FBI and Georgia law enforcement officials have arrested a suspect in New York who allegedly threatened Georgia Senate GOP candidate Mike Collins and his son-in-law, they announced Monday.

The FBI said on X that the agency, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Butts County Sheriff’s Office had arrested a suspect in Buffalo, N.Y., accused of making a death threat against the congressman and his son-in-law.

The Butts County Sheriff’s Office identified the suspect as Anthony Lantrell Bennett of Buffalo and said in a post on Facebook that he had been arrested and charged with two counts of terroristic threats on Friday.

The suspect acknowledged that he had threatened both men, and officials “determined the threat was connected to information in an online story that was not accurate or true,” according to the sheriff’s office.

“State lines don’t protect those who threaten violence, and they do not stop the FBI and our law enforcement partners from pursuing them,” FBI Buffalo Special Agent-in-Charge Allen D. Davis II said in a statement. “Strong law enforcement partnerships are critical to our mission.”

Collins, in a statement on X , thanked law enforcement, saying he was “grateful to the FBI, the Butts County Sheriff’s Department, and all law enforcement partners for acting quickly to protect my family.”

The Georgia Senate GOP candidate suggested that his opponent, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), bore some responsibility for the incident.

“It’s become fashionable for leftist to say anything they want about their Republican opponents to try to irrationally and inaccurately paint them as monsters,” Collins wrote. “My opponent clearly likes to play that irresponsible game, and here we are. When you mix false accusations with inflammatory rhetoric, it fuels the lunatics who want to settle political disagreements with violence.”

Collins called on Ossoff to condemn political violence, adding that the senator “should apologize, retract his false attacks, and campaign on the issues affecting Georgians.”

When reached for comment, an Ossoff campaign spokesperson said, “Senator Ossoff condemns all threats of violence.” Ossoff’s team has not told NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network, whether the two men have spoken since the incident.

Collins is vying to oust Ossoff in the Senate this fall, though a polling average of Georgia Senate surveys compiled by Decision Desk HQ shows Ossoff holding a 9-point lead.

Collins has faced growing scrutiny as several of his former aides and relatives have been embroiled in controversy, including his son-in-law, David Alan Scheer II, whom CNN’s KFile reported in July has previously shared antisemitic and white nationalist rhetoric.

“He doesn’t speak for me. I don’t speak for him. No one speaks for me, and I don’t speak for anyone else,” Collins told reporters in August when asked about his son-in-law. “I condemn all forms of anti-Semitism. I don’t care what the source is.”

There has been a troubling uptick in political violence in recent years, including President Trump’s near assassination in Pennsylvania in 2024, conservative Charlie Kirk’s assassination in 2025 and the murder of a Minnesota state lawmaker in 2025.

NewsNation’s Ava Thompson contributed to this report.