The killing of Charlie Kirk has been followed by a string of arrests across the U.S. over alleged threats of violence in response to the assassination of the conservative activist.

A Texas man who authorities say expressed support for Kirk is facing federal charges after making alleged threats online this month to shoot up a Pride parade in the city of Abilene as an act of revenge for Kirk’s killing. And in El Paso, a woman is facing an arson charge after authorities say she tried to set a church on fire and left threatening messages where a vigil was going to be held to honor Kirk.

Law enforcement in Utah and Minnesota have made similar arrests.

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Social media lit up in the days after Kirk’s Sept. 10 death with people mourning his loss — some of whom said they disagreed with Kirk’s ideological stances but supported his right to voice them — as well as those celebrating it.

Alex del Carmen, a criminologist and professor at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, said the rise in threats in the aftermath of Kirk’s killing is “dangerous and self-defeating.”

“The First Amendment protects even harsh, unpopular speech, but it does not protect valid threats,” del Carmen said. “When people cross that line, accountability is essential, and so is empathy for those who are grieving.”

In Abilene, an FBI agent interviewed the man, who allegedly acknowledged making the posts and possessing a firearm but denied he was going to take any action or shoot participants, according to the affidavit. The parade was held without incident the day after the man’s arrest.

In a case in Minnesota, in the same county where the former speaker of the Minnesota House and her husband were assassinated this summer, a man has been charged with four counts of terroristic threats after authorities say he referred to Kirk as his “friend” and threatened violence against several people.

“These threats are chilling and extremely graphic,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, in Minnesota, said in a statement. “We will not tolerate threats of politically motivated violence and will do everything in our power to hold those who make these threats accountable.”

In Utah, a Pennsylvania man was arrested for threat of terrorism after authorities say he posted a threatening video aimed at Utah Valley University, where Kirk was killed.

A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer from Minnetonka admitted in federal court Friday to uploading child pornography to the Kik app in 2022.

Anthony John Crowley (Courtesy of the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office)

Anthony John Crowley, 52, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Paul to one count of possession of child pornography and will remain jailed ahead of sentencing, which has not been scheduled. He was charged and arrested in June.

Crowley, who at the time was employed as a customs and border officer, used the messaging app to upload images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, according to federal prosecutors.

The Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force tipped off the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension that someone was using Kik to upload images of child pornography. The account was linked to Anthony John Crowley’s phone number and email address.

Law enforcement obtained a search warrant for Crowley’s home and seized his electronic devices, which contained images of child pornography and what are known as “child erotica” stories, prosecutors said.

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“Anthony Crowley’s crimes against children are a disgrace,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson for Minnesota said in a Friday statement. “In the last few months, we have seen a rash of law enforcement officers, public officials, and others in positions of trust abusing children. I have zero tolerance for this betrayal.”

Three days before Crowley was charged, a special agent with Homeland Security, Timothy Ryan Gregg, 52, of Eagan, was charged in federal court with producing child sexual abuse material of a 17-year-old girl after authorities say images and videos of the two engaged in sexual activity were found on her cellphone on May 29. His case is ongoing.

A month earlier, Minnesota state trooper Jeremy Francis Plonski, 30, of Shakopee was charged federally with production of child pornography. Scott County prosecutors also charged him with first-degree criminal sexual conduct of an infant.

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Friday that he has ordered the declassification and public release of all government records about aviator Amelia Earhart, who vanished in 1937 during an attempt to fly around the world.

Trump said it’s an “interesting story” that has “captivated millions.” He said people have asked him whether he’d consider declassifying and making public everything the government has on her.

FILE – Amelia Earhart leaves Londonderry, Northern Ireland for London, File May 22, 1932. (AP Photo/Sidney Maledine, File)

“She was an Aviation Pioneer, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and achieved many other Aviation ‘firsts,’” he wrote on his social media site. “She disappeared in the South Pacific while trying to become the first woman to fly around the World.

“Amelia made it almost three quarters around the World before she suddenly, and without notice, vanished, never to be seen again,” he continued. “Her disappearance, almost 90 years ago, has captivated millions. I am ordering my Administration to declassify and release all Government Records related to Amelia Earhart, her final trip, and everything else about her.”

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Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared while flying from New Guinea to Howland Island as part of her attempt to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the globe. She had radioed that she was running low on fuel.

The Navy searched but found no trace. The U.S. government’s official position has been that Earhart and Noonan went down with their plane.

Since then, theories have veered into the absurd, including abduction by aliens, or Earhart living in New Jersey under an alias. Others speculate she and Noonan were executed by the Japanese or died as castaways on an island.

By FARNOUSH AMIRI, STEPHANIE LIECHTENSTEIN and EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Iran’s president called the expected reimposition of sanctions over its nuclear program “unfair, unjust and illegal” on Friday as the U.N. Security Council rejected a last-ditch effort to delay them.

President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke at a meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, a day before the deadline for the so-called “snapback” of sanctions to kick in. But the president says that despite previous threats, Iran will not respond by withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, potentially following North Korea, which abandoned the treaty in 2003 and then built atomic weapons.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council on Friday rejected another last-ditch effort to delay the reimposition of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program a day before the deadline and after Western countries claimed that weeks of meetings failed to result in a “concrete” agreement.

The resolution put forth by Russia and China — Iran’s most powerful and closest allies on the 15-member council — failed to garner support from the nine countries required to halt the series of U.N. sanctions from taking effect Saturday, as outlined in Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

“We had hoped that European colleagues and the U.S. would think twice, and they would opt for the path of diplomacy and dialogue instead of their clumsy blackmail, which merely results in escalation of the situation in the region,” Dmitry Polyanskiy, the deputy Russian ambassador to the U.N., said during the meeting.

Barring an eleventh-hour deal, the reinstatement of sanctions — triggered by Britain, France and Germany — will once again freeze Iranian assets abroad, halt arms deals with Tehran and penalize any development of Iran’s ballistic missile program, among other measures. That will further squeeze the country’s reeling economy.

The move is expected to heighten already magnified tensions between Iran and the West. It’s unclear how Iran will respond, given that in the past, officials have threatened to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, potentially following North Korea, which abandoned the treaty in 2003 and then built atomic weapons.

Four countries — China, Russia, Pakistan and Algeria — once again supported giving Iran more time to negotiate with the European countries, known as the E3, and the United States, which unilaterally withdrew from the accord with world powers in 2018.

“The U.S has betrayed diplomacy, but it is the E3 which have buried it,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said after the vote. “This sordid mess did not come about overnight. Both the E3 and the U.S. have consistently misrepresented Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.”

The European leaders triggered the so-called “snapback” mechanism last month after accusing Tehran of failing to comply with the conditions of the accord and when weeks of high-level negotiations failed to reach a diplomatic resolution.

Lots of diplomacy as deadline nears

Since the 30-day clock began, Araghchi, has been meeting with his French, British and German counterparts to strike a last-minute deal, leading up to this week’s U.N. General Assembly gathering. But those talks appeared futile, with one European diplomat telling the Associated Press on Wednesday that they “did not produce any new developments, any new results.”

Therefore, European sources “expect that the snapback procedure will continue as planned.”

Even before Araghchi and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in New York on Tuesday for the annual gathering, remarks from Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that peace talks with the United States represent “a sheer dead end” constrained any eleventh-hour diplomatic efforts from taking place.

Iranian officials have defended their position over the last several weeks, saying that they’ve put forward “multiple proposals to keep the window for diplomacy open.” On Friday, Araghchi said in a social media post that “the E3 has failed to reciprocate” efforts, “while the U.S. has doubled down on its dictates.” He urged the Security Council to vote in favor of an extension to provide the “time and space for diplomacy.”

European nations have said they would be willing to extend the deadline if Iran complies with a series of conditions. Those include resumption of direct negotiations with the U.S. over its nuclear program, allowing U.N. nuclear inspectors access to its nuclear sites, and accounts for the more than 880 pounds of highly enriched uranium the U.N. watchdog says it has.

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Nuclear inspectors said to be currently in Iran

Of all the nations in the world that don’t have nuclear weapons programs, Iran is the only nation in the world that enriches uranium up to 60% — a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels.

Earlier this month, the U.N. nuclear watchdog and Iran signed an agreement mediated by Egypt to pave the way for resuming cooperation, including on ways of relaunching inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities. However, Iran has threatened to terminate that agreement and cut all cooperation with the IAEA should U.N. sanctions be reimposed.

Iran has been wary of giving full access to inspectors following the 12-day war with Israel in June that saw both the Israelis and the Americans bomb Iranian nuclear sites, throwing into question the status of Tehran’s stockpile of uranium enriched nearly to weapons-grade levels.

But a diplomat close to the IAEA confirmed on Friday that inspectors are currently in Iran where they are inspecting a second undamaged site, and will not leave the country ahead of the expected reimposition of sanctions this weekend. IAEA inspectors earlier watched a fuel replacement at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant on Aug. 27 and 28.

The Europeans have said this action alone is not enough to halt the sanctions from coming into place Saturday.

Liechtenstein reported from Vienna. Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed to this report.

The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape: https://apnews.com/projects/the-new-nuclear-landscape/