Texas gun dealer charged with threatening to kill Fenway doctor as part of Children's Hospital transphobic hysteria

Matthew Lindner, 38, of Comfort, TX used his gun-business phone on Aug. 31 to call in a death threat to a doctor who works at a Fenway LGBTQ health center, according to court records unsealed today after his arrest on one count of transmitting interstate threats.

Lindner was arrested in western Texas today and will eventually be flown to Boston for his arraignment, the US Attorney's office in Boston reports.

According to an affidavit by an FBI agent on the case, Lindner worked himself into a lather over bogus false reports that Children's Hospital was performing gender-reassignment surgery, including hysterectomies, on children. Those reports led to a harassment campaign against the hospital that has included death and bomb threats against the hospital and its doctors.

A Westfield woman faces federal charges for calling in one particular bomb threat that locked down the hospital and surrounding streets in the Longwood Medical Area for a couple hours on Aug. 30.

Early the next morning, the feds charge, Lindner called the main number for the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center at the Fenway Institute, an affiliate of Fenway Health, and left a 41-second message for a doctor who "focuses on sexual health issues with a particular focus on gender nonconforming youth" and who is "an advocate for gender-affirming care and the use of puberty blockers/hormones to delay puberty in gender-questioning youth," according to the FBI affidavit. Specifically, the caller said:

You sick motherfuckers, you're all gonna burn. There's a group of people on the way to handle [Victim 1]. You signed your own warrant, lady. Castrating our children. You've woken up enough people. And upset enough of us. And you signed your own ticket. Sleep well, you fuckin' cunt.

Within a span of eight minutes after hanging up, Lindner then called two numbers at a Rhode Island university where the doctor is on the faculty and a number for the doctor's former medical practice, to leave similar messages.

According to the affidavit, phone records quickly led investigators to Lindner - data from AT&T showed the number used to call the various numbers in Boston and Rhode Island was registered to Lindner. Online records show the number referenced in the affidavit is registered specifically to Lindner Ammo, LLC.

If convicted, Lindner faces a sentence of up to five years and a fine of up to $250,000, the US Attorney's office reports.

This is not the first time Lindner has threatened people. In 2007, as a player on the Texas Christian University football team, he had a gun in his waistband as he threatened two men outside a Fort Worth taco stand during an argument. In 2013, he owned up to his actions in a Fort Worth Weekly interview in which he said he was out of control then because he was addicted to drugs and alcohol at the time.

During the argument, over two women, "Lindner lifted his shirt to reveal a gun tucked into his waistband and threatened the two men, saying he would 'make them bleed.' " the Fort Worth Weekly reports, before recounting what Lindner said was his road to recovery from his addictions.

Complete affidavit (6.6M PDF).

Innocent, etc.