A tweet has led to an arrest — three months after it was sent.
Back in December, Vanity Fair contributing editor and Newsweek senior writer Kurt Eichenwald shared that someone had targeted him with a strobing tweet. The flashing tweet gave the journalist a seizure. He is a known epileptic and Eichenwald believed he had been targeted for his political views.
Last night, for the second time, a deplorable aware I have epilepsy tweeted a strobe at me with the message "you deserve a seizure' on it...
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016
After the harrowing Twitter experience, he posted he was taking a breather from the platform and pursuing legal action against the violent tweeter.
Fast-forward a few months and on Friday morning Eichenwald posted (on Twitter, where he returned earlier this year) that the FBI had arrested someone in regards to the strobing tweet.
After a 3 month investigation, the FBI this morning arrested the man who assaulted me using a strobe on twitter that triggered a seizure.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) March 17, 2017
A call to Eichenwald's attorney Steven Lieberman confirmed that a male suspect was arrested in Maryland on Friday morning in connection with the tweet. He said the suspect was scheduled to face the U.S. District Court in Baltimore on Friday afternoon. An FBI spokeswoman also confirmed the arrest.
Eichenwald went on a Twitter spree Friday with claims the tweeter is just one person in a group of 40 people who sent strobes with the intention of triggering seizures. "Stop sending them," he pleaded.
More than 40 ppl sent strobes once they found out they could trigger seizures. Details of their cases are with the FBI. Stop sending them.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) March 17, 2017
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