The FBI and Secret Service sprung into action once again over what was deemed to be a credible threat to President Donald Trump ahead of a campaign event this week.
Three University of South Alabama students were charged with threatening President Donald Trump ahead of his Friday rally in Mobile.
Amare Jemal Woods, Cameron Lamark Lewis and Kayla Leaann Smith made federal court appearances as Trump traveled to campus.
Federal affidavits allege the three posted violent messages in the days before the president appeared at the university’s Mitchell Center.
Each faces a charge of threatening the president, an offense carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
A federal magistrate judge ordered all three held pending a detention hearing Monday, according to local station FOX10.
The case places presidential security and the limits of protected speech under scrutiny during a campus visit.
The charges concern online posts, and the report does not say investigators found weapons or a coordinated attack plan.
Authorities described separate messages attributed to each student, leaving courts to assess their meaning and legal consequences.
According to an affidavit, Woods used a TikTok account to comment on a post about Trump’s planned appearance.
“He gotta die bro,” Woods allegedly wrote on September 27, according to the reported court filing.
That alleged wording drew federal attention as the president’s scheduled stop at Woods’s university approached.
Woods’s lawyer, Jason Darley, said the Secret Service takes any potential threat to the president seriously.
“The problem is that the president is on campus and Woods is a student,” Darley told FOX10.
Darley disputed that his client intended harm and said Woods came from a good family.
“If this kid is a threat, then everybody pecking on a keyboard is a threat,” Darley argued.
Lewis, a philosophy major, allegedly posted a veiled reference on X to Charlie Kirk’s assassination last year.
The report does not reproduce Lewis’s full post, so its precise wording is not available in the account.
Smith’s charge stems from a September 29 TikTok reply concerning the presidential appearance, according to another affidavit.
“We only got one chance let’s take it,” Smith allegedly wrote before posting an image mimicking someone holding a gun.
The filing identifies Smith as a student pursuing a degree in elementary education, according to FOX10.
All three allegations emerged as security preparations converged with the university’s role as host of the presidential event.
The University of South Alabama condemned threats toward elected officials and others who hold differing views.
“We encourage open dialogue and active civic participation,” the university said in its statement addressing the allegations.
It also said a vibrant community allows differences of opinion while rejecting intimidation and unlawful behavior.
That distinction matters because a campus can host protest and political disagreement without accepting threats of violence.
Darley suggested the First Amendment could be part of Woods’s defense, while acknowledging laws against threats.
“The statute as it’s written is so broad,” he said, questioning how federal law applies to online remarks.
“It doesn’t require that the person have any capability of carrying it out,” Darley added.
He said he understood the decision to hold the students while Trump was in town.
He plans to argue that Woods poses no danger, and he also doubted the others represented threats.
“I don’t honestly think any of these three are threats,” Darley told the station.
His defense underscores the issue prosecutors must confront: proving an unlawful threat rather than merely offensive expression.
The students’ appearances Friday marked the start of the federal court process, not a finding of guilt.
The detention decision likewise addresses pretrial custody and does not resolve whether any of the allegations are true, WDBJ reported.
Trump’s rally went ahead on Friday evening at the Mitchell Center despite the federal cases.
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