HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania State Police will adopt a new process for alerting lawmakers “directly of any threats of violence against them,” after at least twenty legislative Democrats were allegedly threatened on social media, Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a statement Wednesday evening.
Shapiro shared no details about that process. He and law enforcement agencies contacted Wednesday did not explain an apparent breakdown of communications with the legislators allegedly targeted.
It is clear that “a better process is necessary to notify elected officials directly when these threats are made,” Shapiro said.
Adam G. Berryhill, a 42-year-old Lebanon County man, was arrested last week and charged with making terroristic threats, according to a Pennsylvania State Police report on the incident. Police say he posted a “hit list” online across multiple social media posts, and also made statements about “shooting.”
Multiple lawmakers named in the lists told Spotlight PA they weren’t immediately notified when police became aware of Berryhill last month. They said they learned about the alleged threats at varying times.
In a statement late Tuesday night, Pennsylvania State Police officials said that they "notified the law enforcement agencies responsible for the security of the elected officials involved."
But they did not respond when asked which law enforcement agencies they notified — or when.
It is not known if the Capitol police — the primary law enforcement agency for the state Capitol complex — were alerted. A spokesperson for the state Department of General Services, which oversees the Capitol police, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
The sergeant-at-arms for the Houses and Senate also would not say if State Police notified them. The sergeant-at-arms maintain order on the floor during legislative sessions.
Leaders on both sides of the aisle in the state House, as well as state Senate Democrats, issued a joint statement Wednesday afternoon condemning political violence.
“The threats are a symptom of a greater sickness in our democracy,” they wrote. “The escalation of political violence has reached an astounding level, impacting elected officials from school boards to the president of the United States.”
Senate GOP leaders issued their own, separate statement Wednesday evening, calling people to “set aside the extremism of a mindset of violence against those who serve the rule of law.”
They said that the “communication processes” between Pennsylvania State Police and the sergeant-at-arms is “currently under review and being updated to ensure legislators are immediately contacted and made aware of any threat as we would have expected to have occurred.”
“I don’t understand what happened”
Among the Democratic lawmakers on Berryhill’s list was state Sen. Lindsey Williams (D., Allegheny), who first found out about the alleged threat when one of her staff members told her Tuesday that she’d been named.
Williams’ mailbox in the Capitol building on Tuesday held a mailed letter from the Lebanon County magistrate, she told Spotlight PA, notifying her that she was a victim of a crime and that the arrested suspect, Berryhill, would have a preliminary hearing on May 14.
She said she never received an email, phone call, or text message from any law enforcement agency about the case, so she called the Senate sergeant-at-arms, which is charged with member security. An official told her that they had not received any notice from Pennsylvania State Police regarding the investigation, she said.
“I was kind of flabbergasted,” Williams said. “I don’t understand what happened.”
State House and Senate Democrats held a meeting Wednesday afternoon with Pennsylvania State Police, the governor’s office, and each chamber’s security detail in an effort to figure out why PSP failed to notify the lawmakers about the series of violent threats issued against them.
“Clearly PSP now acknowledge that it was a notification failure on their part,” Costa told Democratic lawmakers in a message following the meeting.
Tara Hazelwood, chief counsel for the House Democratic Caucus, sent an email to House Democrats Wednesday afternoon casting blame on “outside law enforcement agencies.” She wrote that lawmakers' “concerns and frustrations with the lack of timely communication to the caucus” are “valid and taken seriously.”
The alleged threats stemmed from a series of posts to X, formerly Twitter, from an account that police said belonged to Berryhill. He allegedly referenced a “Memorial Day Operation” and posts cited by law enforcement officials named roughly 20 lawmakers on his alleged “hit list.”
But another “list” of more than three dozen lawmakers was posted by the account on April 16th. That post is not included in law enforcement’s affidavit of probable cause, and multiple lawmakers listed — who were not named in others of Berryhill’s alleged posts — told Spotlight PA they were concerned investigators may have overlooked it.
“No one was notified throughout the investigative process that there was a credible threat out there against them,” said one lawmaker, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “What is the process for letting potentially threatened individuals know that there is a threat?”
Hazelwood told House Democrats that she shared the longer list with law enforcement, and Costa acknowledged it in his message to legislators.
There are multiple law enforcement agencies that operate around the Capitol Complex, and who lawmakers regularly interact with.
Pennsylvania Capitol Police are charged with security at state-owned properties in Harrisburg and Scranton. Capitol Police officers, under the Department of General Services, operate separately from each legislative chamber’s sergeant-at-arms detail, which are responsible for maintaining the safety of members and their staff.
There is also a special detail of Pennsylvania State Police assigned to protect the governor and his office, the lieutenant governor, their families, and official residences.
Shapiro was himself a victim of an act of political violence last year, when a man broke into the governor’s residence in Harrisburg and set a portion of the building on fire while Shapiro, his family, and other guests slept in a separate wing. The arson attack happened after Shapiro hosted a Passover Seder in the residence the evening prior.
Cody Balmer, who pleaded guilty last year to attempted murder among other charges, told investigators he would have beaten Shapiro with a hammer had he found him inside.
Shapiro in his most recent budget address proposed sweeping changes to how security for lawmakers and the state Capitol is maintained. He’s urging lawmakers to approve $550,000 to “consolidate” all security services at the Capitol under one contract.
“It is on all of us to combat hate speech and political violence, and I call on all of my fellow Pennsylvanians and fellow leaders to stand up against this dangerous rising tide of violence we are seeing across our country,” Shapiro said in his statement.
Berryhill’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 14th in Lebanon County.
In a search warrant released by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts on Wednesday, investigators said they confiscated a “green shemagh” and a black ball cap from Berryhill’s property. Officers did not include a weapon among the items taken.
Williams pointed out that on May 5 — one day before Pennsylvania State Police arrested Berryhill — nearly every senator on his alleged hit list attended a public event in Philadelphia celebrating the country’s 250th anniversary.
“We were all standing in a public park with no idea about this threat,” she said.
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