A man was arrested Tuesday during an FBI raid after allegedly threatening the Islamic Center of Rochester.
According to a Department of Justice press release, investigators traced a threatening voicemail received by the center to 53-year-old William M. Putnam. The voicemail was sent on November 15 around 1:23 p.m.
“I’m coming to your office with a few friends, we all have shotguns,” Putnam allegedly said in the voicemail.. “We are walking into your front door, and we are going to shoot everybody that’s on the phone in the (expletive) head. How do you like that? That’s what’s going coming your way very soon, you scumbag foreigner (expletives).”
Rochester First reports that one of the victims receiving the voicemail said they had seen Putnam at the Islamice Center a few times in the past year. Putnam has 12 criminal victions, including two felonies and one violent felony.
The New York Mental Hygiene Law required that Putnam be taken to the Rochester General Hospital for observation. He will appear for his next hearing on November 29.
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
We are supported through donations and such charitable organizations as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This holiday season, double your impact by making a tax-deductible donation to Asian American Media Inc and AsAmNews. Thanks to additional benefactors, all donations will now be matched up to a total of $17,000.
Please also follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and X.
