Hawaii man with 2 prior federal threat convictions charged with threatening Whitmer, Michigan Capitol shooting

A Hawaii man has been charged with threatening Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and also threatening to shoot up the Michigan Capitol building in Lansing. 

Ronald Saville, 48, of Honolulu, was charged by criminal complaint with sending interstate communications containing threats, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Hawaii said on Tuesday. He had an initial appearance on Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas and has been detained pending transportation to Hawaii.  

The incidents that led to his arrest happened in May. 

The Hawaii district attorney's office said Saville is accused of sending an email on May 9 to Michigan State Police identifying himself, mentioning the Michigan capital, and saying he was going to walk in with a weapon, "and open fire and kill as many people as possible. I mean what I say I'm not a joke." 

A second email was sent shortly afterward, this time directed to Whitmer. The district attorney's office said that the email included a threat that "on Tuesday second, Lancy, Michigan is never gonna be the same again going to walk into the state capital shoot it up and kill as many people as possible than I'm coming for you." 

Saville then called the Federal Bureau of Investigation on May 12, during which the district attorney's office said he told an FBI agent that he wanted to kill Whitmer because of her political affiliation, and that he had been conducting online research to plan a trip to Michigan. 

Whitmer, a Democrat, is term-limited in her current role and cannot run again for governor. She has not publicly stated her plans after leaving the office. There were threats made against Whitmer by other people during her eight years in office, and she has spoken out against political violence.

If convicted in this case, Saville faces up to five years in prison plus up to a $250,000 fine per count of interstate communications containing threats. 

Saville was previously convicted twice in federal court in the District of Hawaii for making threats toward former U.S. President George W. Bush in 2006 and toward former U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway of Hawaii in 2012, the district attorney's office said. 

The FBI is leading the investigation.