Did a former 49er threaten to kill Rep. Swalwell?
A former San Francisco 49er appeared to threaten the life of Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Castro Valley.
Swalwell posted a screenshot Wednesday evening of a private message from a Twitter account, @BruceMillerIII, threatening him with imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay or execution. The account had about 54,000 followers and appeared to belong to former 49ers fullback Bruce Miller, although The Chronicle was unable to confirm whether it does.
“Almost time!!!” the tweet read. “Would you rather Guantanamo or just execution (laughing emojis) f— traitor.”
Swalwell believes the message was sent by the former player.
“We get dozens of threats a week,” Swalwell told The Chronicle. “A lot of times these threats, they have no followers (and) it was clear the account was made to just make the threat.”
This threat, however, was different, Swalwell said. “This guy had 50,000 followers. Because of the immediacy and because of the followership, I just wanted to have this one out there to see if we could learn more.”
Swalwell quickly received information that the account may be owned by the former 49er based on what other accounts follow the account, including sports journalists in the Bay Area and former 49er Colin Kaepernick. The account is also followed by 49ers President Al Guido and has posted photos of the player going back to 2013 and a photo of Kaepernick in 2011. The Twitter account, which had briefly been private, began tweeting at Swalwell midday Thursday.
“I was content with trolling corrupt politicians in my (direct messages), but since you want to make a story out of it then that’s what we’ll do. That was in no way a threat to you or you family,” the Miller account tweeted. “I am not a threat to you or anyone else for that matter. However, you and the uniparty are a threat to the country and to the world.”
The 49ers have not had a relationship with Miller since he left the team, a representative told The Chronicle. The Chronicle was unable to reach Miller or his representatives after repeated attempts.
Swalwell then learned of Miller’s alleged violent history, which he said was the most concerning.
Miller was released from the 49ers in 2016 after four seasons with the team after he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a 70-year-old man and his son. Miller was charged with seven felonies, including assault with a deadly weapon, but the charges were later dropped. He was also arrested on suspicion of spousal abuse in 2015, but the charge was reduced to disturbing the peace, to which he pleaded no contest.
“We’re always on high alert, but especially” because of an attack Monday on the staff of Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., Swalwell said. “I worry most for my family and our staff because they sit on the target. I’m constantly in motion, right? You’ve got to be pretty good to find me. But the family and the staff, they’re often in fixed positions.”
“I never threatened you, I asked a simple question which struck a nerve,” the Miller account tweeted.
Swalwell said he had never previously interacted with Miller: “It was just out of the blue.”
Swalwell reported the threat to the U.S. Capitol Police, he told The Chronicle, who will investigate and work with local law enforcement. The Capitol Police declined to comment for safety reasons.
Members of Congress have faced increasing threats to their safety in recent years.
Lawmakers have been shot at during a baseball practice and forced to hide from attackers at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and some have faced more specific threats, including the brutal October attack on Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s husband at the couple’s Pacific Heights home.
U.S. Capitol Police investigated 9,625 cases in 2021, over double the 3,939 in 2017.
Swalwell has also received numerous online threats. He posted details of one such threat, and an ensuing conversation to get the identity of the sender in 2021.
Hours after Swalwell went public with the most recent threat, the Twitter account messaged him again: “What a pussy.”
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
