In brief
Jeremy Wayne Shoemaker from Needham, Alabama, has been charged with making interstate threats against religious leaders including rabbis and an imam. Following a series of threatening communications, authorities found firearms and detailed notes on prominent figures at his residence. Shoemaker, who has a diagnosed mental illness, is currently being held in custody.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Federal prosecutors have charged an Alabama man with making threatening calls and texts to multiple rabbis, an imam, and other religious figures throughout the southern United States. Jeremy Wayne Shoemaker, a resident of Needham, Alabama, is accused of making menacing communications that included explicit threats such as telling one rabbi, 'I want you to die.' Shoemaker has been charged under federal law for making interstate communications threats, as well as facing state charges for resisting arrest and ownership of a firearm as a prohibited person.An FBI agent's affidavit revealed that Shoemaker initiated these threats against a rabbi in Mountain Brook, Alabama, which led to an investigation that uncovered additional menacing communications sent to religious leaders in Louisiana and Georgia, as well as a church in North Carolina. Law enforcement officials later discovered weapons in Shoemaker’s home, including a suitcase filled with ammunition and documents detailing the contact information of various prominent religious figures.According to court documents, Shoemaker has a diagnosed mental illness. His grandmother informed the FBI that he has been non-compliant with his medication. The affidavit reported one of the threatening messages where Shoemaker asserted, 'I continue to push the Muslimeens to kill you Rabbis,' underscoring the severity of his threats.The situation escalated when the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office announced that a multi-agency force had arrested Shoemaker after credible threats of violence were made against multiple synagogues in Alabama and surrounding states. The small town of Needham is located approximately 10 miles from the Mississippi state line, and Shoemaker is currently being held at the Choctaw County Jail.
