San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones speaks during a prior engagement. Credit: Public Domain / U.S. Air Force

San Antonio police have arrested a local man on charges that he made a death threat against San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones.​

Officers took Ignacio Zuniga III, 44, into custody Wednesday after authorities learned of a threat he made the previous day on social media platform X in response to an article posted by KABB FOX 29, SAPD said in a media statement.

“@KABBFOX29 More wasted money, stop voting democrat Bexar County,” Zuniga reportedly tweeted. “We should be hunting these evil demons down and executing them, starting with @Mayor_GOJ.”

Following the threat, the Southwest Texas Fusion Center public safety unit launched an investigation and obtained an arrest warrant for Zuniga on retaliation charges, police officials said. Zuniga was brought into custody by SAPD Covert officers on Wednesday without incident, according to authorities.

“We take comments that threaten to harm an individual seriously and will take the necessary steps to thoroughly investigate these incidents,” SAPD Chief Bill McManus said in a statement.

This week’s action marks at least the second time SAPD has arrested a suspect for making alleged threats to Jones’ life since she took office last June.

In August, authorities arrested and charged a San Antonio man wrote “we need to kill the mayor” in a Facebook post. The post blasted Jones for seeking a “strategic pause” on Project Marvel, the downtown sports-and-entertainment complex.

Jones later blamed racism and sexism for that online threat.

“If you’re a woman of color, you experience more of this online harassment and these kinds of threats,” Jones told the Express-News. “It’s just a reality. It’s unfortunate.”

Since then, Jones has amassed an unprecedented security detail, including 24/7 security and perimeter surveillance around her apartment.

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Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...