A Minnesota man was convicted of threatening Pam Bondi in connection with a TikTok post offering a $45,000 bounty on the former U.S. attorney general.
A federal jury found Tyler Maxon Avalos guilty of interstate transmission of a threat to injure the person of another on Wednesday, November 4, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota.
“Politically motivated threats and violence are a plague on our society,” U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen, of the District of Minnesota, said in a statement. “Rest assured, however, that federal law enforcement agencies are on high alert, at all times, for such threats and violence, and the United States Attorney’s Office remains committed to prosecuting all perpetrators.”
FBI agents linked Avalos, 30, to the alleged TikTok threat against Bondi, 60, after a TikTok user saw the post on October 9, 2025, when Bondi was attorney general, and reported it to the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center.
The TikTok user’s report claimed someone was “[i]mposing a hit on Pam bondi for $45,000 posting it on tiktok his user name is @liminalvoidslip,” according to court documents.
An image of the post was included in the trial brief, showing a photo of Bondi with text stating: “WANTED: Pam Bondi” and “REWARD: 45,000.”
The post featured “a sniper-scope-style red-dot crosshair imposed on her forehead” and also stated Bondi was wanted “dead or alive,” but “preferably dead,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
According to the trial brief, the post included a comment that read, “*cough cough* when they don’t serve us then what?”
The post came from a TikTok account investigators linked to Avalos, who allegedly posted anarchist symbols on the social media page, as well as a link to an “Anarchist FAQ.”
In an emailed statement to Us on Thursday, Avalos’ defense attorney, Daniel L. Gerdts, expressed he plans to appeal his client’s conviction.
“I respectfully disagree with the verdict,” Gerdts wrote. “The First Amendment constitutional question is, of course, not the province of the jury, and will be presented to a different audience: the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. I expect a different result in that forum. This speech is clearly protected.”
Prior to his conviction, Avalos filed a motion to dismiss the superseding indictment, in which Gerdts claimed that the alleged TikTok post featuring Bondi “did not contain a true threat.”
“While the communication at issue in this case might qualify as offensive invective to some viewers, it does not clearly convey a threat of injury,” Gerdts argued. “Indeed, the communication at issue in this case contains no threat of injury whatsoever.”
“It instead offers a generic reward of unspecified currency for the production of the former attorney general — though it fails to identify where she should be produced or how to collect the reward,” Gerdts continued. “And while it expresses a preference for the production to be after her death, a mere expression of wishful thinking does not by itself constitute any kind of threat.”
Prosecutors said Avalos allegedly celebrated the assassination of conservative political activist and Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk on social media in addition to threatening Bondi.
Avalos is also accused of making social media posts referencing Luigi Mangione, who allegedly killed United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
According to prosecutors, Avalos has a prior criminal history, including a 2022 felony stalking conviction in Minnesota.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office didn’t specify whether Avalos’ sentencing was scheduled.
