Oak Harbor man arrested after expressing desire to kill LGBTQIA+ people
Jun 17, 2022, 5:50 PM | Updated: 5:52 pm
A resident of Oak Harbor was arrested Friday after expressing his desire to kill members of the LGBTQIA+ community on social media, according to the Oak Harbor Police Department and court documents.
Tyler Dinsmoor, 27, was arrested without incident and transported to the Island County Jail.
According to court documents, Dinsmoor posted on social media that he “might not make it through this [expletive] month,” and he “was 9mm away from fedposting two [expletive] at home depot yesterday.”
‘Fedposting’ is internet slang for anything posted online that shows a premeditated planning of criminal activity.
According to the warrant issued in the case, Dinsmoor started focusing on the Anacortes Pride Parade that is scheduled to be held on June 18 and was asking people to “talk me out of it.”
At about 3 p.m. on June 14, Island County dispatch received a report of threats made by Dinsmoor.
The woman said she’s a neighbor to a rental property that Dinsmoor owns, and Dinsmoor had been coming over to fix the property after a previous tenant.
The woman said Dinsmoor drives a truck with “Bible Bigot” painted across the back.
She said she had recently returned from a trip to the grocery store with her wife, and as they were walking inside with their groceries, Dinsmoor shouted, “It used to be legal to kill gay people!”
The woman said she didn’t say anything in return, went inside their house and told her children not to go outside.
A few days later, the woman said she saw Dinsmoor again and he was carrying a handgun on his hip.
The woman went to her neighbor about the incident, who relayed two more stories about Dinsmoor.
The neighbor said his Black nephew had gone to Dinsmoor’s house to ask if he needed help with a home project and Dinsmoor had yelled and screamed at him for being on his property.
The neighbor also said Dinsmoor once pointed a gun at his nephew when he went into a backyard to return a fishing pole.
The woman told police she was aware of recent social media posts the Whidbey Island community had been screenshotting about Dinsmoor’s gab.com account.
Gab.com, similar to Twitter, was founded in 2016 and, according to court documents, is known for its far-right userbase.
According to the Oak Harbor Police Department, they had been sent emails with the concerning screenshots.
Detectives identified a gab.com account with the username @dinsmoorsheepskins posting videos with Dinsmoor with a Bible in front of him.
In a video posted to gab.com, Dinsmoor introduces himself and says he was sharing from the Bible that God hates “[expletive].”
A comment from @dinsmoorsheepskins posted on April 28 says, “People keep accusing me of homophobia. Damn right. God says they have one end: to be taken and destroyed.”
On May 2, the @dinsmoorsheepskins account posted a photo of himself and his children with the caption “Busy making White babies.”
Also on May 2, the @dinsmoorsheepskins account posted a Photoshopped picture of a white man pointing a handgun at a group of people waving and holding a Pride flag.
A felony warrant was issued for Dinsmoor for civil rights malicious harassment with a hate crimes enhancement.
Due to the large law enforcement response to arrest Dinsmoor, the Island County Sheriff’s Office sent out a public safety message to residents, saying, “This is the Island County Sheriff’s Office. Currently there is police activity on Lyon Rd. in North Whidbey. You are asked to avoid the area. If you live in the area please stay in your home. Lyon Rd. may be blocked for a period of time. Updates will be provided as needed.”
Dinsmoor was arrested without incident and bail was set at $1,000,000.
