TALLAHASSEE, FL—A man who regularly posted that Jews should be "exterminated" was arrested and charged with eight felonies after he threatened to travel to Brevard County to murder Florida Rep. Randy Fine and his children because they're Jewish.
“As an outspoken and unafraid Jewish Republican legislator, Nazis and Muslim terrorists make dozens if not hundreds of hateful statements towards me every day,” said Fine in a statement released Wednesday morning, highlighting the danger of the "specific" and "imminent" threats lobbed at him by Edwin Guerro, who sent death threats from a foreign country. “Florida is not New York or Washington, where no one ever seems to be held responsible for attacking Jews. Let Guerro’s arrest make one thing clear – in Florida, if you ‘f’ around, you’re going to find out.”
Three days after the threats were made, Guerro was taken into custody by the Department of Homeland Security, the Massachusetts State Police, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement while attempting to enter the United States. It is unclear which country he was in, or if his reason for coming to the United States was to fulfill his promise to kill Fine.
Guerro is charged with five first-degree felonies for “written or electronic threats to kill while evidencing prejudice,” one second-degree felony for “unlawful use of a two-way communication device while evidencing prejudice,” one third-degree felony for “publications which tend to expose persons to hatred while evidencing prejudice,” and one third-degree felony for “threats of harassment while evidencing prejudice.” He faces a maximum of 175 years in prison if convicted on all counts, and is now being held without bond in Massachusetts while awaiting extradition to Florida.
“Muslim Terror is real and it exists in Florida,” said Fine, though there is no indication that Guerro is Muslim. “I am incredibly grateful to the agents of FDLE who worked around the clock to identify – and then arrest – this terrorist.”
Fine provided The Floridian with screenshots of a series of now-deleted posts from what he says is Guerro's X account, in which the antisemite posted a picture of a gun with a caption reading, "Looks like I'm taking a little field trip to Brevard County Florida let's play a game @VoteRandyFine."
Another post authored just seven minutes before the gun threat showed what appears to be a murdered Israeli soldier tagged with, "This is gonna be Randy very very soon." Other posts included threats of "finding" the Lawmaker, who is the sole Jewish Republican in the Legislature, killing him, and making his sons watch. One post threatens that Fine's children "will suffer the same fate."
Fine said that these posts happened a few weeks ago in mid-August and all occurred on the same day. He says he has never interacted with Guerro.
A staunch pro-Israel advocate, Fine, who is running for state Senate, sponsored two groundbreaking bills this session that defined antisemitism in Florida law and provided Jewish Day Schools with state-financed security measures after the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre in Israel. DeSantis signed both measures over the summer.
The Massachusetts State Police and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have yet to respond to a request for comment.
