Martin County investigating threat e-mailed to Fla. lawmaker after Ariz. shootings
Threat to Stuart Republican tied to his work on immigration bill

Palm City By Jim Turner, TCPalm.com

1:18 p.m. EST, January 18, 2011
MARTIN COUNTY —
An investigation is under way into a threat e-mailed to state Rep. William Snyder, who is working on a high-profile immigration bill, an hour after the mass fatal shooting in Arizona that involved Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

The message implied that harm would come to the Stuart Republican or his family members if he didn't drop his immigration effort that mirrors a controversial bill approved last year in Arizona.

Martin County Sheriff Robert Crowder said his agency is working with law enforcement in another state on an investigation into the e-mail received at Snyder's Stuart legislative office on Jan 8.

"There are some names that have come up in the investigation that look like good potential suspects, but the investigation has not moved that far along for a number of reasons," Crowder said.

"You have got to consider it serious even if it doesn't pan out to be that way. We are not mind readers. We're not fortune-tellers, so we have to take it serious on its face and treat it as it is bona fide, and we don't know if that is the case yet."

Snyder, following a news conference to announce his run for county sheriff, said it would be inappropriate to discuss an open investigation.

But he added, "A threat against me is something I can contend with easily, it's just a fact of life," Snyder said. "A threat against my family — you saw my grandson here today — I took that very seriously."

Giffords, who was upgraded to serious condition Sunday, was among 14 wounded and six killed, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge, in shooting spree outside a Safeway supermarket in Tucson, where Giffords was meeting with constituents.

Jared Loughner, 22, faces murder and attempted murder charges in the shootings.

The Arizona shooting came less than 24 hours after Snyder hosted a forum on his immigration proposal that drew a passionate but polite crowd of more than 300 to the Palm City Library.

Snyder has yet to formally file the bill he announced last summer. As proposed, the bill would make it a state crime for non-U.S. residents to fail to carry alien registration documentation, and would allow law enforcement officers in the state to question anyone they legally stop about their immigration status and hand undocumented people over to federal authorities for possible deportation.

Copyright © 2011, South Florida Sun-Sentinel


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