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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
World
Niamh McIntyre

Man who 'stole guns and threatened Easter attacks on churches' arrested after 12-day manhunt

The fugitive suspected of sending a 160-page anti-government manifesto to President Trump and stealing weapons from a Wisconsin gun shop has been captured by police.

Local police, who had been searching for Joseph Jakubowski for 11 days, arrested him at a farm more than a hundred miles from his hometown.

The suspect was arrested after police received a tip that a man matching Mr Jakubowski’s description had been camping out on the site and had refused to leave when asked.

Officers had also received a letter apparently authored by Mr Jakubowski which threatened violent attacks on churches in the area on Easter Sunday.

In a statement posted to their Facebook page, Rock County Sheriff's Office said:

“Arrangements are being made for Jakubowski to be returned to Rock County for further investigation and charges.”

There has been no comment on the whereabouts of the 16 firearms missing from Armageddon Supplies, a gun shop in rural Wisconsin.

Federal law enforcement support was brought in from around the country to search for Joseph Jakubowski, who had made non-specific threats toward schools and public officials. The FBI had offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

Local press reported that the suspect was unemployed shortly before going on the run, and may in the past have worked in retail or as a roofer.

Rock County Sheriff Robert Spoden said in a statement last week an associate of Jakubowski told authorities he had been "agitated" by national politics and "recently verbalized a plan to steal guns and use them in an unspecified attack."

Mr Spoden described the manifesto as “a long list of injustices he believes the government and society and the upper class have put forward onto the rest of the citizens.”

The news channel WTMJ has published excerpts of what is believed to be Mr Jakubowski’s manifesto.

In one passage, the author describes the US taxation system as a form of terrorism. “We live in a system of terrorists backed by government laws … that force people to pay government taxes! Taxes that are theft!”

The manifesto also says the middle classes are a “slave to the system” and names “bosses, managers and CEOs” as targets.

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