A federal criminal complaint was filed Thursday against a man who used to live in Orange County, who's accused of threatening to murder a judge and carry out a mass shooting next week at a courthouse in Orange.
According to the court filing, Byrom Zuniga Sanchez, now believed to be living in Mexico, sent numerous threatening messages via email and social media between May and October, including the courthouse threat in which he allegedly said he planned to, "assasinate," [sic] judges, lawyers and police officers.
An FBI agent wrote in a court filing that Zuniga has been the subject of a variety of domestic violence and workplace restraining orders, and is wanted on multiple criminal arrest warrants from Orange County.
Zuniga, the agent said, was the person at the center of a May 2022 vehicle pursuit that ended in standoff in the parking lot of an In N Out Burger in Lake Forest.
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The FBI obtained a search warrant for Zuniga's various internet accounts, and the agent wrote in a court affidavit that records obtained from email providers and Instagram linked Zuniga to the accounts used to transmit the threatening messages.
The judge who was the focus of the messages has been presiding over a family law matter involving Zuniga since 2019.
The criminal complaint alleged Zuniga wrote and posted photos that showed a specific threat to the Lamoreaux Justice Center in Orange, and said there was, "absolutely nothing," authorities could do to stop him from carrying out the violence, and that the messages were notice of his intent, "to exercise the 2nd amendment."
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NBCLA does not publish the specific content of threats of violence.
The internet account records obtained as a result of the search warrant showed many of the messages appeared to originate from Mexico, the FBI said, and according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection records, Zuniga unsuccessfully attempted to enter the U.S. at the San Ysidro border crossing in June.
