A 27-year-old Texas man was arrested Saturday after he filed court documents threatening to use “deadly force” to stop abortions at a local clinic.
“I am entitled under my religious beliefs to use deadly force if necessary to save the innocent life of another,” wrote Erlyndon Joseph “Joey” Lo in the court filing, which called for a temporary restraining order against all abortions and named the Supreme Court as defendants.
In the filing, which he submitted early Friday morning, Lo said he would be at the Southwestern Women’s Surgery Center at noon the same day.
“I will try to stop an abortion using oral words, and if words are not enough. I will use physical force if necessary, and if anyone tries to physically stop me, I will overcome that force, and if I must use deadly force to defend the innocent life of another human being, I will,” he wrote.
In response, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Dallas and Plano police departments arrived at the clinic before noon. Lo did not show up, FBI Special Agent Mark White told TPM. He was arrested the next day at his home in Plano, Texas.
Lo has been charged with transmitting an interstate communication containing a threat and using a threat of force to intimidate the employees of a reproductive health services provider. He’s being held without bond in Collin County Jail.
On his web site, Lo claims he went to school and passed the New York Bar Exam. He also describes his views on abortion at length, and calls himself a “a fully-fledged and devout Roman Catholic Christian.”
He wrote that abortion is wrong “in EVERY case, even when a woman is raped and she did not want to have a child, EVEN WHEN SHE WILL DIE IF SHE HAS THE CHILD, AND EVEN IF THE WOMAN WILL SURVIVE ONLY IF SHE KILLS THE BABY. That is the OBJECTIVE AND ABSOLUTE TRUTH. THAT IS THE ONLY CORRECT ANSWER.”
He also attacked President Obama.
“I challenged President Barack Obama to a public debate on abortion, which he lost by not responding,” Lo wrote. “He must have accepted my challenge before March 26, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. Therefore, he lost, I won, abortion is wrong, abortion is evil, abortion must now and immediately be made illegal everywhere in the world, he didn’t even care, he needs to stop kissing or hugging babies or even one baby acting as if he cared about even one baby …”
Lo also described a scenario in which First Lady Michelle Obama is raped.
“If someone rapes Obama’s wife Michelle Obama, that would be sad, tragic, and sorrowful. Obama must not slaughter Malia or Sasha for the bad act of a rapist male,” he wrote.
Here’s the complaint against Lo, including his court filing:
