Miami man threatens to kill ‘hundreds’ if he didn’t get protection from Jews, prosecutors say

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A man was arrested this week in Miami after he was accused of threatening authorities that he’d shoot and kill hundreds of people if he didn’t receive FBI or CIA protection from Jewish people, the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office announced in a press release Friday.

According to jail records, Maximo De la Cruz de Jesus, of Miami, faces a second-degree felony charge of threats or extortion.

Prosecutors said De la Cruz de Jesus called the FBI field office in Miami just after 10 a.m. Monday and threatened throughout a 15-minute call that he was going use an automatic weapon to shoot “hundreds of people” in a building and at a concert.

“A lot of people are going to die, like hundreds of people, shot dead, they’re going to get executed,” he allegedly said in the call.

De la Cruz de Jesus also claimed in the call that he had been “abused, manipulated, and kidnapped by the Jewish people,” and demanded some sort of protection from harassment, authorities said.

According to prosecutors, he also claimed he had been contacting the FBI on numerous occasions over the years to report a crime and ask for protection.

De la Cruz de Jesus is certainly no stranger to Local 10 News.

On September 9, 2014, he was sent to the Harbor House mental health/special needs facility after being arrested for defacing a banner at Temple Emanu-El, a synagogue in Miami Beach.

Officials told Local 10 News that De la Cruz de Jesus drew a swastika, KKK and a skull for no apparent reason. At the time of his arrest, his attorney argued that he suffered from mental illnesses, including schizophrenia.

During the course of the call on October 9, 2023, De la Cruz de Jesus mentioned to the operator multiple times that he committed the above offense, according to prosecutors.

Within a matter of hours of the completion of the telephone call, he was located in front of the Willkie D. Fergusons Jr. United States Courthouse in downtown Miami, authorities said.

As of Friday night, De la Cruz de Jesus was being held on a magistrate hold at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. His bond has not been set.