(The Center Square) – An Illinois state senator is thanking law enforcement after a DeKalb man was arrested for an alleged assassination threat against a member of the Illinois House.
The alleged threat against state Rep. Jeff Keicher, R-Sycamore, came just days after the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania on July 13.
The incident led to the postponement of a DeKalb Senior Health Fair, which Keicher and state Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, had been scheduled to attend.
Rezin said officials took the threat seriously.
“After consulting with law enforcement and other legislators, we decided that the senior fair needed to be postponed,” Rezin said.
Rezin explained why the initial announcement of the fair’s postponement did not provide details.
“We were asked by the state police to not state the reason for the postponement so they could thoroughly investigate the threat without tipping off the suspect,” Rezin said.
Police arrested a 58-year-old man from DeKalb.
Rezin thanked Illinois State Police and local law enforcement for their prompt response and investigation.
“I asked my staff who were also going to be at the senior fair if they were comfortable if the senior fair would continue as scheduled, knowing that we would have heightened police at the doors. And at that time, just because of what happened with President Trump and the attempted assassination in the same week, we felt that it was prudent to cancel. We weren’t comfortable. We weren’t comfortable with the assailant actually phoning in the threat,” Rezin said.
Rezin said security will be heightened for the next event.
“We are always very diligent at my office to make sure that we have safety protocols in place, just because of some of the prior threats that we have received,” Rezin said.
Rezin said she has previously had threats called into her district.
Several other lawmakers, including Rezin, are scheduled to host a Senior Fair in Morris on Aug. 1.
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