‘Anti-Trump’ Gunman In ABC Affiliate Shooting Targeted Bondi, Patel
A 64-year-old California man accused of firing several rounds into an ABC affiliate in Sacramento left behind a chilling note vowing to go after top members of President Donald Trump’s administration, according to federal authorities.
The gunman, identified as Anibal Hernandez-Santana, was arrested Saturday by the FBI—just a day after his alleged drive-by shooting at ABC 10. Local police had already taken him into custody and charged him with assault with a deadly weapon, but he was quickly released on $200,000 bail before federal agents rearrested him.
Investigators say they discovered a handwritten note in Hernandez-Santana’s car. It read:
“For hiding Epstein & ignoring red flags. Do not support Patel, Bongino, & AG Pam Bondi. They’re next. — C.K. from above.”
The note directly referenced Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino—all senior members of President Trump’s administration.
The revelations come after Variety reported that Hernandez-Santana’s social media footprint was filled with vitriolic, anti-Trump commentary. One recent post sneered:
“Where is a good heart attack when we need it the most?? Please Join in my thoughts and prayers for the physical demise of our fearful leader.”
In another post from July, Hernandez-Santana declared he was ready to “fight like hell” against the Trump administration.
Despite this record, his defense attorney Mark Reichel tried to spin the case as political targeting:
“If you look at his social media, they’re going to say, ‘Boy, it sure shows that he’s liberal and left wing.’ So you think they’re going to overlook something like that? I don’t think so,” Reichel told Sacramento’s KCRA 3.
After his release by local authorities, the FBI stepped in and placed Hernandez-Santana under a federal hold for interference with licensed broadcasts, where he remains. FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed on X:
“Targeted acts of violence are unacceptable and will be pursued to the fullest extent of the law.”
The shooting occurred early Sept. 19, just one day after a small protest outside ABC 10 related to the suspension of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. Kimmel’s suspension followed backlash over his false claim that the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk was a Trump supporter.
On his last show before suspension, Kimmel mocked conservatives:
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”
But evidence contradicted him. The suspected assassin, Tyler Robinson, 22, had expressed far-left sympathies, was living with a transgender roommate, used Antifa-linked rhetoric, and admitted in text messages that he targeted Kirk specifically because of his conservative advocacy.
Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, has shared her grief in raw and heartbreaking detail. She described the moment she first saw her husband’s body after the shooting:
“His eyes were semi-open and he had this knowing, Mona Lisa-like half-smile. Like he’d died happy. Like Jesus rescued him. The bullet came, he blinked, and he was in heaven.”
At his memorial service in Glendale, Arizona, Erika also revealed a tender secret she had kept from him:
“But there was something else. Even in death, I could see the man that I love. I saw the one, single gray hair on the side of his head, which I never told him about. Now he knows. Sorry, baby, I’m telling you now.”
She added that even in tragedy, God showed mercy:
“I also saw on his lips the faintest smile. And that told me something important. It revealed to me a great mercy from God in this tragedy. When I saw that, it told me Charlie didn’t suffer. Even the doctor told me — it was something so instant.”
The dual revelations—that a leftist activist is accused of targeting President Trump’s top officials, and that the media falsely smeared Kirk’s assassination suspect as pro-Trump—further highlight the dangerous double standards in America’s political climate.