Texas man arrested over alleged plot to shoot up the state Capitol on 1 October

Texas State Police SWAT members arrived at Benny Caldera Jr.’s home in Converse around 3am Wednesday and arrested the 40-year-old over what authorities described as an alleged plot against the Texas State Capitol. Caldera, whose home is about 15 miles northeast of downtown San Antonio and about 70 miles southwest of the Capitol in Austin, was taken into custody after the Texas Department of Public Safety deemed the threat “credible”.

Authorities say a concerned citizen had reported threats by Caldera against the Capitol and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, known as AIPAC. The complaint alleges that Caldera told another person he had “made up his mind”, planned to go to the Capitol and “shoot it up”, and was specifically angry with AIPAC.

Prosecutors say Caldera and several co-conspirators had planned a “violent attack” for 1 October. The identities of the alleged co-conspirators and the nature of their involvement have not been disclosed.

In a recorded conversation, Caldera said goodbye to his parents before the planned attack, according to prosecutors. A criminal complaint further alleges that he said AIPAC members “have to be exterminated.”

Officers and federal agents searching the home found a.357 revolver loaded with six rounds and a 12-gauge shotgun in the master bedroom closet, authorities said. The serial number on the revolver frame appeared to have been filed off.

Caldera was transported to Bexar County Jail and charged at state level with felony terroristic threat against a public servant. Magistrate Judge Edith Brown set bond at $75,000.

The FBI then arrested Caldera at the jail and moved him into federal custody. He faces a federal charge of possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number, which carries a potential prison term of five years if he is convicted, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

County documents show that Caldera had previously faced two charges of unlawfully carrying a weapon, in 2023 and 2024.

The Department of Public Safety said Thursday that it had found a “credible” threat to attack the Capitol. It said there was no reason to believe an ongoing threat remained to the Texas State Capitol.

Justin Simmons, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, credited “a perceptive and concerned citizen seeing something and saying something” with enabling the arrest. He said: “Had the alleged threats not been taken seriously and reported to law enforcement, we could have had a very different and tragic story to tell today.”