April 9 (UPI) — Wisconsin authorities have increased patrols around churches and other places of worship because of concerns about a fugitive who has expressed anti-religious views and threats of violence, including against President Donald Trump.
Law enforcement found a 161-page manifesto that Joseph Jakubowski, 32, had allegedly written and sent to Trump on Tuesday at the White House. That night, police said he stole at least 16 weapons from a gun store, Armageddon Supplies, in Janesville, Wis., which is about 75 miles west of Milwaukee.
Police said he is is “armed and dangerous,” and likely has a bulletproof vest and helmet. Thirty minutes after the robbery, a car belonging to Jakubowski was found engulfed in flames near the shop.
“As a result of anti-religion sentiment depicted in Jakubowski’s manifesto, local law enforcement has increased patrols at churches within their jurisdictions,” Rock County Sheriff Robert Spoden said in a news release. No disturbances have been reported at any local church.
The only church to close was Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Sun Prairie, about 48 miles north of Janesville.
Police in Sun Prairie, announced Saturday there was an unconfirmed sighting of Jakubowski at a church there Thursday afternoon.
Sun Prairie police said a man similar to the description of Jakubowski — white in his late 20s or early 30s with brown hair and a scruffy goatee — entered Bethlehem Lutheran Church and asked strange questions about turning away people from services. The man, wearing a green hat and green jacket, left without incident. Witnesses said he drove off in a silver sedan with a missing hubcap on the driver’s side tire.
More than 150 law enforcement officers nationwide are hunting for Jakubowski, including members of the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Secret Service. The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
“When you look at his document that he wrote, it’s really a long list of injustices he believes the government and society and the upper class have put forward onto the rest of the citizens, so there’s really nothing specific where he’s saying, ‘I was wronged in this way’ or ‘I was wronged in that way,'” Spoden said to WLS-TV in Chicago. “It’s just an overview that he feels that government and law enforcement, in particular, are acting as terrorists and enslaving the people and creating this environment that he finds unacceptable.”
Police obtained a social media video that shows Jakubowski sending a package to Trump.
In the manifesto, he allegedly spoke about his dying by the hand of Trump and expressed a desire to save everyone by killing one politician at a time. He was previously imprisoned for trying to disarm a police officer.
