Christian Beyer of Petaluma has been charged with interstate threats after releasing a series of videos threatening violence against military personnel based in San Bernardino County.
Beyer was stationed at Fort Irwin, an Army base 36.5 miles northeast of Barstow, until he was court martialed in 2021 for assault.
According to the complaint, Beyer had pushed his wife, barricaded himself in his residence with an unregistered firearm and disobeyed military police on April 26, 2021.
He posted seven videos on Oct. 30. One of them threatened, by name, military personnel who were involved in his court martial.
“Go ahead and f***ng hang it up or you’re harboring those police like you’ve already done before and I will f***ing come and hunt you, and I’m telling you that right now and not just because I’m harboring a witness because the cops f***ing made up all this shit anyway and you guys f***ing ran along with them so f*** you. I’m coming for you. I’m gonna kill your whole f***ing family if they stay there,” he said, after naming the personnel.
One of the videos, titled “POLICE BRUTALITY,” showed Beyer being arrested by Mendocino County Sheriff’s deputies, taken from his viewpoint. The deputies said they had shown up because Beyer had been seen rummaging through a car. One deputy later said the car was not registered to Beyer, even though Beyer claimed it was. Throughout the video, Beyer berated the deputies, declined to give them his name, and gave them an old Army identification card with his name scratched off.
A following video showed him being released from Mendocino County Jail, claiming he was tortured for being held on a public intoxication charge. The complaint said he was arrested for disorderly conduct and being under the influence of drugs. The other videos threatened violence against police officers.
“I bet all you guys are like, ‘Is he OK? Or is he f***cking still crazy?’ Yes I’m still f***cking crazy,” he said in one of the videos.
On Oct. 31, after he was released, Beyer brandished a knife at an elderly man, then got in his car, and swerved toward the man and his friends, according to the federal complaint. He was arrested again after the event, following a manhunt.
Beyer had been posting threats against Fort Irwin personnel on his Facebook page before the YouTube videos, according to the complaint.
Read the complaint here.
