Police: Ex-state Democratic official turned Republican threatened to shoot up LGBTQ event

A former Nevada Democratic Party official who jumped ship for the Republican Party in 2018 and who has a history of arrests allegedly threatened to “shoot up” an LGBTQ event, police said.

Michael Zahara, 61, of Las Vegas, is facing a charge of making a terrorist threat.

According to a Metropolitan Police Department arrest report, Zahara sent a text message to the Human Rights Campaign of Nevada that said, “planning to shoot up Nazi hrc event.” He also allegedly said in another text he would “stop by with his piece,” an apparent reference to bringing a gun to the event.

The alleged threat from Zahara was in response to a mass text sent from the Human Rights Campaign to its subscribers via the Hustle app. The text invited the campaign’s supporters to attend an event that was slated for Tuesday evening at the LGBTQ+ Center of Southern Nevada on Maryland Parkway. The event took place as scheduled.

‘It has to stop’

A security consultant for the campaign in Southern Nevada said the organization received the message on Oct. 13, the arrest report said.

A statement from Human Rights Campaign spokesperson Elizabeth Bibi said that the organization couldn’t comment on the specific threat made against the Las Vegas event but that the campaign was grateful for what it called “swift action” from the police.

“But we can say that this is merely another example of the rise in extreme, violent rhetoric and threats targeting the LGBTQ+ community — from Pride parades, to libraries, to hospitals that provide care for LGBTQ+ kids,” Bibi said in the statement. “We know that violent rhetoric leads to stigma, and stigma leads to physical violence — and the so-called leaders spreading anti-LGBTQ+ propaganda are only creating more stigma, discrimination and violence against our community.

“It has to stop,” Bibi said.

Zahara, a former member of the executive board of the Nevada Democratic Party, was tracked down when detectives called the phone number from which the threatening text originated, according to the arrest report.

Police said Zahara told them that because he is now a Republican, he shouldn’t be getting such text messages from the Human Rights Campaign of Southern Nevada.

The Southern Nevada branch is the Las Vegas-area affiliate of the Human Rights Campaign’s national organization. The organization, according to its website, “fights for LGBTQ+ equality alongside lawmakers at the local and state levels across the country.”

It has endorsed several prominent Nevada Democrats for re-election including Gov. Steve Sisolak, U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who was scheduled to appear at Tuesday’s event, and state Attorney General Aaron Ford, among others.

Mad about political solicitations

In an interview Saturday, police asked Zahara to explain why he sent the text message, the arrest report said. Zahara said he’s a politically active person with “many connections and opinions.” He authors a blog. He was a Democrat for 30 years before changing parties in 2018. He gets a lot of political ads, many of which he disagrees with.

“He specifically said the Democrat party had been soliciting his phone, and he felt they were terrorizing him with their propaganda,” the arrest report said of Zahara.

Zahara told police, according to the arrest report, that he didn’t believe his texts would go to an actual person and that he thought he was responding to an automated bot. Zahara also said he doesn’t have any weapons and had no intention to commit any violence. He admitted his texts were provocative, but he didn’t think there would be consequences.

Police also said in the report that Zahara has made similar threats in the past. In December 2021, he threatened to shoot up Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada. In July 2022, he allegedly said he “wondered why you guys don’t get shot up more, hoping someone shoots you up” over a disagreement about paratransit trips.

In 2008, he was arrested on charges of trying to extort a former Assembly candidate, with the Review-Journal also reporting then that Zahara’s credentials to the state Democratic convention were revoked after he allegedly threatened other delegates.

In his current case, Zahara was released on a $3,000 bail, with orders to stay away from the The LGBTQ Center of Southern Nevada, and to possess no weapons. His next court date is set for Nov. 1, court records show.

Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com or 561-324-6421. Follow @BrettClarkson_ on Twitter.