Hooksett resident charged with making threats against Ayotte

A Hooksett man was arrested last month for threatening violence against Gov. Kelly Ayotte.

Tristan Anderson, 22, is charged with a misdemeanor of criminal threatening and a felony of threatening homicide or assault against a government official.

The Pembroke Police Department received a report that Anderson made threats against the governor in messages to his roommate on the social media app Snapchat.

Anderson said in the messages that he planned to target Ayotte “with my weapon of mass destruction” and made anti-Semitic statements about the “Israel Deep State,” according to the arrest warrant filed by New Hampshire State Police.

His roommate told police he had firearms. He also bought fireworks and showed her metal tubes, nuts and bolts that he planned to use to make pipe bombs.

He is currently being held without bail at Merrimack County Jail and is banned from the State House grounds.

On Wednesday, in response to questions about the safety of elected officials in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination and other political violence in the U.S., Ayotte said state lawmakers and law enforcement have been talking about the security needs of elected officials.

Ayotte said most changes regarding heightened security or access to the State House would need to come from the Legislature, which oversees the grounds.

Chris Vetter, director of Safety Services at the State House, said his team has not received word of any threats against lawmakers or people who work in the building.

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Vetter said he’s talked with legislators and staff about security in the wake of Kirk’s killing but has no current plans to upgrade or make any major changes to security at the State House complex. Their protocols are already “pretty robust,” he said, but he’s open to modifying them if any vulnerabilities or gaps become apparent.

“We’re aware of what’s going on nationally,” Vetter said. “We’re going to remain vigilant.”

Ayotte said she wants elected officials to feel safe but values the open access that the public has to the Capitol building.

“This is part of who we are,” Ayotte said. “That accessibility for our citizen legislature, for our elected officials, has always been an important component in New Hampshire.”

She also called for unity and, when necessary, peaceful disagreement.

“I want people to think about what we share together and our shared values and the things that unify us because I think that they’re much greater than what divides us,” Ayotte said. “We should really be focusing not on our divisions but, how can we work together and how can we have civil discourse?

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