Minneapolis man pleads guilty to syringe attack against Rep. Ilhan Omar

Anthony James Kazmierczak, a 55-year-old Minneapolis resident, was arrested on Jan. 27 after he charged a stage where Omar was speaking at a town hall.

The Minnesota man accused of wielding a syringe and lunging at Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., pleaded guilty on Thursday to a federal charge stemming from that frightening January incident.

Anthony James Kazmierczak, a 55-year-old Minneapolis resident, was arrested on Jan. 27 after he charged a stage where Omar was speaking at a town hall and sprayed apple cider vinegar at the lawmaker.

Kazmierczak was tackled before he could reach Omar and she was not injured.

The incident occurred while Omar was calling for the resignation of then Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in the wake of federal agents killing two Minneapolis residents.

Kazmierczak, a convicted felon and vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, screamed at Omar and said she was “splitting Minnesotans apart” as he was subdued.

The defendant had previously threatened Omar and told a close associate years ago, “Somebody should kill that b----,” according an affidavit supporting his arrest.

Kazmierczak initially pleaded not guilty to one count of assaulting a United States officer, following the Omar attack.

But during a hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Joan Ericksen, the defendant changed his plea to guilty before he was remanded back into custody, court records showed.

The records did not list a day for sentencing and Kazmierczak’s attorney could not be immediately reached for comment.

The incident came during a particularly tense time in Minneapolis, in the days after the slayings ofmotorist Renée Good on Jan. 7 and nurse Alex Pretti on Jan. 24.

Good and Pretti had been protesting against ICE actions against immigrants in Minnesota. While the Trump administration has not admitted any fault in the fatal shootings, Homeland Security Secretary Noem was fired on March 5.