Man Arrested After Making Death Threats Against Local Pride

A man in Washington was arrested last week after making anti-LGBTQ+ statements and death threats against the local community and an upcoming Pride celebration.

Tyler Dinsmoor, 27, from Oak Harbor, was taken into custody last Friday by Oak Harbor Police Department and the Island County Sheriff's Office on a felony warrant and charged with felony civil rights malicious harassment with a hate crimes enhancement, according to a press release posted on the department's Facebook.

In one of the threatening posts on the social media platform Gab, which has a large far-right base, Dinsmoor wrote that he was "9mm away from fedposting two f*gg*ts at home Depot," using a slang term for making statements about planned criminal actions that could later be used against him by law enforcement agencies. He also asked for prayers from his followers as he doubted his ability to "make it through this fag month."

In a subsequent post, Dinsmoor said he wished "death upon every single" gay person "before they get a chance to molest and groom anyone else."

In another post, Dinsmoor shared an image promoting the first annual Anacortes Pride Parade with the cryptic message "talk me out of it."

According to a report from local ABC affiliate KIRO, police had been called to the home of a woman who lives next to rental property owned by Dinsmoor on June 14, saying Dinsmoor had yelled an anti-LGBTQ+ death threat against her and her wife.

"It used to be legal to kill gay people!" the woman claimed Dinsmoor had shouted.

She said that she saw Dinsmoor a few days later with a firearm on his hip. Another neighbor claimed Dinsmoor pointed a gun at his young Black nephew who had wandered onto his property. The man added that Dinsmoor drove a black truck with the words "Bible Bigot" emblazoned on it.

Dinsmoor remains in jail on $1 million bail.