Louisiana - A Louisiana man has been sentenced to federal prison after he made multiple threats to VA and medical center employees.
U.S. Attorney Brandon B. Brown declared that 31-year-old Aaron Wade Knight from Noble, Louisiana has received sentencing for threatening violent acts against staff at the Sabine Medical Center (SMC) and the Veterans Administration (VA). Knight was found guilty by a federal jury in Shreveport, in February 2023.
On July 25, 2023, Knight received a 27-month prison sentence followed by a three-year period of supervised release from the US District Judge Elizabeth E. Foote, due to his violent threats. Knight was found guilty of charges stemming from his threats against employees at the SMC in Many, Louisiana, as well as the VA in Shreveport, Louisiana, and Alexandria, Louisiana; these incidents both occurred on June 1, 2022. The initial incident took place when Knight, then residing in Virginia, called the VA hotline call center located in Alexandria, Louisiana in the early hours of June 1. While talking to a nurse at the call center, Knight expressed his frustration over a bill he had received after a recent hospital visit at the SMC. As the conversation went on, he became increasingly upset, finally saying, “What do I need to do, do I need to blow up this place to get some help?” Worried about his threatening remarks, the nurse brought it to the attention of a VA patient advocate in Shreveport, Louisiana who had previously dealt with Knight.
The patient advocate reached out to Knight, worried about the remarks he previously made to the nurse. However, during the phone conversation, Knight lost his temper with the patient advocate. He raised his voice and, in an intimidating way, asked her whether he should go there and violently harm those involved by shooting them in their faces.
The investigation of the case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Many, Louisiana Police Department, and U.S. Assistant Attorneys J. Aaron Crawford and Andrew Weber handled the prosecution.