Influencer's copy-cat assassination threat goes wrong (2024)

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Dominican Republic authorities got the last laugh following the arrest of influencer, who posted an assassination threat to President Luis Abinader on TikTok.

Starlin Silvestre, who goes by 'Starlin HD,' told police he was just seeking to bask in the moment after former United States President Donald Trump was shot by a bullet at a campaign event on Saturday.

In a video, which has been viewed more than 725,000 times, the 23-year-old can be seen sitting on his bed and claiming that Abinader could suffer the same fate as the Republican candidate.

'Abinader, you saw what happened to Donald Trump, right?' he said in Spanish. 'We're going to blow your head off, do you listen.'

Silvestre then appears to make a reference to the millions of dollars in loans that the Abinader administration has taken out to cover public projects: 'A brick falls in the country and you ask for 200 million. You got us tired, Abinader, you mother****.'

However, he was singing a different tune as he was escorted through a police station in Haina, a city in the southern province of San Cristobal, on Sunday and toned down his rhetoric as he pleaded for President Abinader's forgiveness.

'I'm an influencer, you know,' Silvestre told a CDN television reporter. 'Since I was into the news, I created content. I regret this a lot. I apologize to Mr. President.'

Silvestre explained that after learning of the failed assassination attempt of the Republican presidential nominee, he saw photos and videos circulating on the social media platform and decided to add in his two cents.

'I went on TikTok and saw that all of that was viral,' he said. I did a video, but not with the intention of making harm.'

Silvestre understood the gravity of his actions.

'Us content creators always want to be cool,' he said. 'What I did was an error. What I am is an influencer, a comedian.'

Silvestre was still in custody Monday and had yet to be charged.

President Abinader, who has received five death threats since 2021, didn't address the incident.

But Vice President Raquel Peña appeared issued a stern warning to content creators and vowed that Silvestre would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law while talking with a throng of reporters Monday following a meeting with Cibao region business leaders.

'We do not have that culture of aggressiveness. So let's not invent, let's not get really creative because that's not us,' Peña said. 'I mean, that for me was an isolated case.'

A series of pictures and videos that were obtained by DailyMail.com showed how close Thomas Matthew Crooks came to killing Trump at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The 20-year-old shooter settled on the roof of an industrialmanufacturing building, about 150 yards from the stage where Trump was talking to supporters, before he opened fire with his father's R-15 rifle.

Fifty-year-old father of two and volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore has been named as the audience member who died trying to shield his family from the gunfire.

Two other audience members who were hit, 57-year-old David Dutch and 74-year-old James Copenhaver, were both in stable condition on Sunday.

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