Man arrested for online threats at Tempe music event

Authorities have arrested a man who allegedly threatened to kill attendees of a music event in Tempe.

Twenty-nine-year-old Trevor Lee O’Dowd of Prescott Valley was arrested last week for making online threats to kill anyone who attended a music event at a venue in Tempe, according to a release from the United States Attorney’s Office District of Arizona.

O’Dowd was charged with a federal criminal complaint with a single count of Interstate Communication of Threats.

Between March 12 and 13, O’Dowd posted numerous threats on social media to injure and kill attendees at the music event, according to the complaint. O’Dowd’s posts indicated that he felt disrespected for not being invited to the event.

His threatening posts included the following statements:

• “If they go im going on a rampage im just letting yall know before it happens.”
• “Anyone got an AK I can b[o]rrow. Bout to go end some lives since u think I’m never gonna make it.”
• “I suggest hiring more security for ur events soon.”
• “April 7th will be the last day for AZ hip hop.”
• “[D]on’t show up to mill Ave is all imma say.”

Other messages showed O’Dowd welcoming a police presence, with him adding that it would “be a wild west shootout like the good old days . . . I have no reason to live so good luck with that,” according to the release.

The single count of Interstate Communication of Threats carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and up to three years of supervised release.

But, a federal criminal complaint is simply a method by which a person is charged with criminal activity and raises no inference of guilt. An individual is presumed innocent until evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the release stated.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is conducting the investigation in this case, while the United States Attorney’s Office District of Arizona is handling the prosecution.