Michigan Capitol police investigate hundreds of complaints. Here’s what they found

LANSING — "I'm going to murder everyone at Michigan lottery. I'm going to slit each of their throats with rusty forks," read the message. "I'm going to commit mass genecide (sic)."

That message, posted on social media in March of last year, prompted Michigan Lottery officials to call the Michigan State Police, and the agency's Capitol security team, which handles criminal complaints involving state facilities and workers in state government’s massive downtown Lansing footprint. The security team determined the message came from a West Virginia man.

He "was upset and made those threats because of an issue with his debit card" involving his overdrawn checking account because of two lottery withdrawals, according to a police report.

After police spoke to the man, who was not charged, he posted an apology on X, formerly Twitter.

The incident was among 178 complaints in the first nine months of 2023 involving reported offenses against state employees, officials, buildings or property. Those complaints were down 17% from the same period in 2022, when there were 215 reports. Overall, there were 289 complaints in 2022 and 338 in 2021. The State Journal could not obtain full-year 2023 data for comparison from MSP.

Some complaints stem from threats, but also include assaults, break-ins to state buildings and loitering. A common theme of the complaints – many of which were reported to police as threats but were determined not to be - stem from people with mental health problems or frustration by everyday Michigan residents struggling to get assistance from state workers, such as at the unemployment agency.

Some of the downward trend in incidents can be attributed to tensions that ran high during the pandemic fading, at least somewhat, said Bill Kandler, chair of the Capitol Commission, which oversees the Capitol building, including security. Some of those tensions stemmed from Whitmer's controversial coronavirus policies.

Officials last year spent tens of thousands of dollars improving security at the Capitol and other buildings, including adding weapons detectors and artificial intelligence video software to detect weapons. Kandler said officials realize the downward trend in incidents may not continue, given that this year’s election cycle could drive an increase in some of the passions that could lead to threats.

"There is a concern about people being overcharged or excited about political extremes," Kandler said. "People are discussing violence in connection with that so it could manifest itself in any way."

The data comprises only the first nine months of 2023. The Lansing State Journal filed a public records request in October for data on incidents and police reports; MSP requested extensions multiple times and did not turn over incident reports for nearly five months, after charging the LSJ $190.

The most serious of potential crimes at the Capitol – an accidental firearm discharge in 2022, conspiracy, hazardous materials such as ricin – are rare, each happening once in the 33-month period.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer frequent target

The governor, lottery officials, legislators and state workers reported alleged threats during 2023.

Whitmer's office reported several threats, some of which police determined not to be threatening. Others were substantiated and involved the FBI and Secret Service.

Some examples:

• In March 2023, someone sent threatening letters to Whitmer with a black-and-white piece of paper showing a created image of former President Donald Trump holding a gun with the words “You are a dead traitor.” Similar letters were sent to officials in Illinois and New York and members of the LGBTQ+ community in Saline in 2021. The case is now with the FBI.

• That same month, the lead pharmacist at the Saginaw Veterans Affairs office reported someone had made threats toward Whitmer, President Joe Biden, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and VA workers. The pharmacist said the caller had said something similar to: “Nessel and Whitmer are going to get shot and gutted like fish” and continued to make homophobic and racial statements while threatening the pharmacist. Gregory Simms, 38, was charged in April with a felony, making a false report or threat of terrorism, and a misdemeanor, malicious use of telecommunications. The charges are still pending with a hearing date in early April. The listed number of his attorney, Ronald Bayot, was not accepting incoming calls on Thursday afternoon.

• In June of last year, someone left three voicemails that made statements about Whitmer. State police officials determined there was no direct threat by the caller, and they also were not able to track the caller due to a difference between analog and digital cell towers in the area.

• Also in March 2023, the governor's office reported a letter that included the sentence: “Personally, you should be taken out behind the woodpile and beating (sic) within an inch of your life.” State police and an Attorney General’s office lawyer, LaDonna Logan, agreed that it was “rude, disrespectful, and vulgar, (but) stating someone 'should' have something done to them is not indicating that the sender would carry out any of the acts themselves.”

• In July 2023, a Michigan Lottery investigator turned phone messages over to state police that said, “With all this mass killing out here, you can tell Governor um Gretchner (sic) or whoever the governor is, you tell that bitch I’m going to kill her. Imma shoot every mother (expletive) coming out that mother (expletive) building.” The case against the man, whose name is redacted from MSP records, is pending, and he has posted a $40,000 bond.

Threats against a sitting governor are not unusual. Gov. Rick Snyder was directly threatened three times between January and October 2015 and another threat was made during a National Governors Association meeting Snyder attended. The MSP also investigated a threat against former Gov. Jennifer Granholm that year.

Tightened security for the public's building

The Capitol is both a place for legislative debates and tourists. But the lofty exterior often draws people with mental health issues and strong political opinions, state troopers said.

Legislators, along with the Capitol security team, have been striving toward improvements. In 2023, the Capitol Commission voted to ban weapons from the Capitol, with an exception for law enforcement and legislators who have a concealed carry permit. A weapons detection system was added as well. Open carry of firearms is still allowed on the Capitol lawn.

The Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol helped spur on the changes.

According to a 2021 survey of state capitols by the Council of State Governments, Michigan at the time did not have any of the four non-COVID related precautions the study examined: Metal detectors, X-ray machines, ID checks and security fencing.

Rep. Phil Green, R-Millington, said he has a concealed carry permit that allows him to carry a weapon in the Capitol. He was concerned when the armed protestors entered the Capitol in April 2020 but said he's not convinced the changes have made the Capitol safer.

"I have definitely felt over the past couple of years, the past year or two, the temp of people being angry starting to subside," he said. "To the best of my knowledge the system we had in place worked and we had no major incidences. So I’m not 100% sure as to what the current change in security has done to make it more safe.

"Some people feel it's more safe but some people feel less safe."

Speaker of the House Joe Tate, D-Detroit, and Speaker Pro-Tem Laurie Pohutsky, D-Livonia, did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

MSP First Lt. Fahad Qureshi, who oversees the Capitol security team, said anyone can still walk into the Capitol, when it's open, without providing identification and that's intentional.

"The main role of the State Police is to maintain order to ensure people can express their constitutional rights to assemble and have a protest or a rally for whatever cause they're there for and ensuring safety for everybody that's there," he said. "Whether they're for a cause or against a cause, we are there to make sure the environment is safe.

"It's all case by case with what our responses are and we look at different outcomes. They're not all the same, where we can go down a checklist." said Qureshi, recently appointed to serve as post commander for MSP's Flint Post #35 Third District while continuing to lead the MSP State Security Operations Section at the Capitol until that position is filled.

Mental health, angry customers drive threat complaints

MSP's data indicates reports of threats are a small slice, about 11%, of the 178 incidents in the first nine months of 2023, when 19 incidents were reported to MSP as threats.

People with mental health problems are behind some of the incidents, documents show.

After employees at the Michigan Economic Development Corp. reported potential threats in January 2023, state police tracked a man who said he was frustrated with MEDC. The man made several calls, starting the previous month, and the nature of the potential threats is not included in the police reports, nor is his name.

State police contacted local police, in Lawrence, Michigan, where village Police Chief Paul Bianco told troopers that the man may have mental health issues; he had gone into the police station a month before and made racial comments about an Asian employee, the chief told state police. Bianco said the man was abrupt and had problems with the government, but confirmed he did not have access to firearms. The case was closed without prosecution.

Repeated calls, often heard by state workers as abusive, pop up regularly in the state reports and are usually dismissed with no crime found.

Others point to frustrated people interacting with often-complicated issues that get mired in state bureaucracy.

In April 2023, someone called the state Department of Treasury for issues involving home heating credits and check cashing.

The male caller became agitated and said, "You’re lucky I don’t know where your office is. I’m going to look up your address and come up there," according to a police report.

The Treasury worker told police she didn't feel threatened but took it as more of a general threat toward the building.

When police called the man, he told an officer he knew why they were calling, and he apologized, saying he made the comments out of anger with no intent to ever cause harm. The man told police that he had other issues going on in his life and would not make threats again. Police closed the case.

In another case, a man called workers at the Michigan Office of Administrative Hearings and Rules more than 30 times on June 13, 2023, using profanities and racial slurs. He eventually began calling the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Commission, too. Police found the man, determined he was not a risk, and a supervisor at the Administrative Hearings and Rules office decided not to press charges, a police report showed.  

The 'proverbial town square'

The First Amendment allows people to protest state government, even in stern terms, meaning not every angry call is a threat, police said.

"The Capitol is the proverbial town square," Qureshi said. "It's where people come to rally for a cause or protest for a different cause. It's a gathering point for our citizens to express their constitutional rights."

More often than not, reported threats turn out to be unfounded, with someone making the threats with no intent to commit a crime, said Detective Sgt. Aaron Sitko of the Michigan State Police, who reviews most of the threats.

"Sometimes it's just conversations with people or they are frustrated trying to get to the root cause," Qureshi agreed. "We want to see, 'Hey, how can we help you so we can all move on from this?'

"Sometimes you have to explain (to state employees who file the complaint) that, constitutionally, they're allowed to do this. There's no law against it and the police can't interfere. It's a little disconcerting for people when that happens."

Someone submitted a potential threat in April 2023 to the governor's office via a web submission: "Take your filthy woke trash neurodiversity ideology and shove it. (Explicative) I’m on the spectrum and I don’t need acceptance. I don’t want acceptance. You are a disease to society for propping these filthy woke (expletive) that don’t deserve to live. Politicians like you don’t deserve to breath."

State Police looked at the message and, in consultation with an Attorney General's Office attorney, determined it not to be a crime.

"There was a mutual agreement that there was no criminal activity in the post and would be protected by the First Amendment," the police report, signed by Sitko, said.

Sitko said police work with prosecutors on cases where there's a fine line between people being able to protest aggressively and making a threat.

"We can't guarantee anything," Kandler said. "But we do the best we can to make it safe and I tell parents, when their kids come to tour the Capitol, that they are at least as safe here as they are at their school."

Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect that Michigan State Police First Lt. Fahad Qureshi is now post commander for Flint Post #35 Third District while continuing to lead the MSP State Security Operations Section at the Capitol until that position is filled.

Contact Mike Ellis at mellis@lsj.com or 517-267-0415.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan Capitol police investigate hundreds of complaints. Here’s what they found