Man threatens to kill church official he blamed for Charlie Kirk death, MN cops say

A man who called himself a “friend” of Charlie Kirk threatened violence against a church official he blamed for the political activist’s death, Minnesota authorities say.

“I think that you and your cohorts have killed my friend Charlie. For this I hold you and your people responsible,” 64-year-old John Allan Sandeen told the music director of a Maple Grove church in an email included in court documents. “It’s fair game to let the hunted know that they are hunted. You are now advised.”

It was one of many emails Sandeen is accused of sending within a week of Kirk’s Sept. 10 assassination at Utah Valley University, according to the Maple Grove Police Department.

Sandeen accused the director of inserting their political views at church. In an email to a different church employee, Sandeen said the music director should “play the songs” and “shut down the politics,” authorities said.

“We are expecting an apology from the church and you,” police said he wrote a Sept. 15 email, one of several he is accused of sending that day. “You better find a... way. I’m going to break your... fingers. You will never play the... keys again.”

Sandeen also threatened to cut the throat of the music director, telling him he would “find (him),” according to the affidavit of probable cause.

“All you liberal left leaning people are now targets,” he is accused of saying Sept. 16. “You people killed my friend with your rhetoric. Now it is pay back time.”

The music director, who told police of the emails that day, told officers he did not know the man sending him the messages, police said. He suspected Sandeen saw him perform at church.

When interviewed by investigators, Sandeen said he did not remember writing the emails, but he later said he was likely drunk when he wrote them, according to KSTP.

Sandeen was charged with four counts of terroristic threats made to individuals via email, officials said.

The White Bear Lake Police Department said Sandeen’s emails “caused the recipients to fear for their safety.”

“These threats are chilling and extremely graphic,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement. “Our community is still reeling from the recent assassination of Rep. Melissa Hortman and Mark Hortman, and attempted assassinations of Sen. John Hoffman, Yvette Hoffman, and Rep. Kristin Bahner. We will not tolerate threats of politically motivated violence and will do everything in our power to hold those who make these threats accountable.”

Maple Grove is about a 15-mile drive northwest from Minneapolis.

This story was originally published September 22, 2025 at 11:44 AM with the headline "Man threatens to kill church official he blamed for Charlie Kirk death, MN cops say."