A Maryland man is being held in custody, accused of placing a voicemail threat on the phone of the Human Rights Campaign — a D.C.-based group that advocates for LGBTQ rights.
A federal criminal complaint accuses Adam Nettina, 34, of West Friendship in Howard County, of leaving the threatening message last week, a day after the March 27 mass shooting at the private Christian school in Nashville. Following the attack, in which the shooter killed six — three 9-year-olds and three adults — police sowed confusion over the shooter’s gender identity.
Police gave unclear information on the gender of the shooter, who was killed by police — first identifying the person as a woman and then later saying that the person was transgender.
In the recorded phone call to the Human Rights Campaign, the caller said, “You guys going to shoot up our schools now? … If you want a war, we’ll have a war … we’ll cut your throats … we’ll put a bullet in your head.”
In the criminal complaint, the chief investigator said that the phone number used to reach the Human Rights Campaign was the same number Nettina had used two years ago while filing an insurance claim following a crash in Herndon, Virginia.
Nettina made an initial court appearance on Monday in federal court in Baltimore. He was ordered to be detained pending a detention hearing Friday, April 7, at 1:30 p.m.
The charge against Nettina carries a possible maximum five-year prison sentence.
