FBI agents and Georgia deputies arrested a Buffalo man on two counts of terroristic threats after an alleged death threat against U.S. Rep. Mike Collins and his son-in-law. The Butts County Sheriff’s Office named the suspect as Anthony Lantrell Bennett and said both counts are felonies.
The FBI Buffalo office posted the arrest on October 5, three days after the Friday pickup. It said the sheriff and his deputies came from Georgia and took Bennett into custody with FBI agents and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The bureau post did not name the suspect. By the next morning, the post had about 31,000 views.
One message, two counts
Sheriff Gary Long told WSB-TV the office got the tip from Collins. The message was a single Instagram direct message to Collins’s son-in-law, David Allen Scheer II, and included a threat to come to Jackson and harm both men. Investigators described Bennett as a former Hampton, Georgia, resident now living in a Buffalo suburb.
A death threat against a Georgia congressman led investigators to Buffalo, where #FBI Buffalo assisted our Georgia law enforcement partners in making an arrest.
On Friday, the Butts County Sheriff and his deputies traveled from Georgia to Buffalo and worked side by side with our FBI special agents and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to personally take the suspect into custody for allegedly threatening to kill U.S. Congressman Mike Collins and his son-in-law.
“State lines don’t protect those who threaten violence, and they do not stop the FBI and our law enforcement partners from pursuing them,” said FBI Buffalo Special Agent-in-Charge Allen D. Davis II. “Strong law enforcement partnerships are critical to our mission.”
This is partnership in action. By working together across jurisdictions, the FBI and our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners can act quickly against threats and protect the American people.
— FBI Buffalo (@FBIBuffalo) October 5, 2026
Long said an FBI surveillance team was watching the address Friday morning. Bennett walked outside before the search warrant was served and was taken into custody without incident. The sheriff said Bennett later admitted sending the message, called it a mistake, and tied it to an online story that was not accurate. An extradition hearing in Buffalo is expected within a couple of days. The sheriff’s office did not give a court date or a bond figure.
“State lines don’t protect those who threaten violence, and they do not stop the FBI and our law enforcement partners from pursuing them,” FBI Buffalo Special Agent in Charge Allen D. Davis II said in the bureau’s post. Long said threatening to kill a public official or his family “is not politics. It is a criminal act.”
Collins, a Georgia Republican, is also a U.S. Senate candidate. The FBI post did not quote him.
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