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Randall Robert Berka II, 31, was sentenced to 32 months in federal prison for a comment he made on his YouTube account called "@killthefeds420."
A Michigan man has been sentenced to nearly three years in federal prison after making numerous death threats online against Democrats, LGBTQ+ people, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Randall Robert Berka II, 31, was sentenced to 32 months in federal prison Thursday, concluding an investigation that began in 2023 into his YouTube account called "@killthefeds420," through which he advocated to "kill all federal agents on sight and hang biden," according to The Detroit News.
Berka made several threatening comments on the account, including one where he claimed he would "kill lgbt freaks and same [sic] America." In another, he proclaimed that "queers need to die."
Other comments targeted Whitmer, a Democrat, who has been the target of several violent threats in the past as well as an attempted kidnapping plot. Berka said in one post that he was "more than willing tot [sic] kill whitmer," adding, "I do live in Michigan. ill assault her ugly face with my bullets."
FBI investigators traced the account to Berka, who had not made attempts to hide his identity. In fact, he explicitly stated his name and the town he resided in at one point.
"hey fbi! My name is randall the 2nd and I live in sebewaing Michigan and I am willing to kill these people, fuck it I don't care, fuck the feds, fuck them," he wrote. "Im not mentally ill for needing to be violent towards these people, call the ccops [sic], fuck them. Ill shoot them too. I'll kill anyone who tries to take my guns. ANYONE. I AM DONE. TRY TO CONFISCATE THEM FROM ME AND I WILL KILL."
Berka has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and had spent time in a mental hospital. The state also previously ruled that he is not allowed to own firearms, though his mother, Michelle, was sentenced to probation in July for purchasing five firearms on behalf of her son while claiming they were for herself.
Whitmer addressed the threats and kidnapping plot in an interview with CNN's Chris Wallace last year, stating that she blames former President Donald Trump for inciting right-wing violence against her.
"The former president made me a target and threw a lot of gas on the fire and it has continued to burn and I think about it everywhere I go," Whitmer said, adding, "It's taken a toll. But it's not going to scare me. It's not going to change who I am ... and the decisions that I have to make. I've got a job to do and I'm going to do."
