Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) was accosted and sprayed with an unknown substance Tuesday by a man who rushed the stage with a syringe at a chaotic town hall event in Minnesota.
Omar was at the podium criticizing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and calling for abolishing ICE when Anthony Kazmierczak – shouting inaudible remarks – allegedly charged her from the row closest to her lectern and sprayed liquid in the direction of her chest.
The syringe appeared to contain an amber-colored liquid.
The congresswoman ran after Kazmierczak and appeared to be readying to punch him before he was tackled and removed from the North Minneapolis venue.
“I need a napkin,” Omar was heard asking a staffer on the hot mic.
Aides urged her to seek medical attention, but the 43-year-old “Squad” rep refused.
“No, we will continue. I’m fine,” Omar said.
A person near Omar noted that whatever the substance sprayed was, “it smells so bad.”
Omar continued with her remarks a few minutes later.
“We are Minnesota strong, and we will stay resilient in the face of whatever they might throw at us,” she said, as her assailant was still being removed from the room.
Kazmierczak, 55, was arrested by Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) officers and booked into Hennepin County Jail for 3rd degree assault, according to MPD Public Information Officer Trevor Folke.
“Representative Omar was uninjured and resumed speaking at the event,” Folke noted.
Minneapolis Forensic Scientists responded to the venue – the Urban League Twin Cities building – to process the scene, according to police.
“I’m ok,” Omar wrote on X about an hour after the incident.
“I’m a survivor so this small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work,” she continued. “I don’t let bullies win.
“Grateful to my incredible constituents who rallied behind me. Minnesota strong.”
Minneapolis Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw, one of the presenters at the town hall who got some of the spray on her jacket, told The Post that there were metal detectors to get into the venue and police were outside before the event started.
“It was mayhem when it happened, but her getting back up there and speaking calmed the room down,” Vetaw said. “But I looked over at her hands, and she was shaking so bad.”
“I got sick to my stomach,” Vetaw said of the foul odor. “I went outside and threw up because, like, the smell was so strong.
“It smelled like vinegar or ammonia.”
Political leaders from both sides of the aisle condemned the assault.
“I am deeply disturbed to learn that Rep. Ilhan Omar was attacked at a town hall today,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) wrote on X.
“Regardless of how vehemently I disagree with her rhetoric – and I do – no elected official should face physical attacks.
“This is not who we are.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called the incident “unacceptable” and said “this kind of behavior will not be tolerated in our city.”
“Violence and intimidation have no place in Minneapolis,” the Democrat leader wrote on X. “We can disagree without putting people at risk.
“I’m relieved Rep. Omar is okay and appreciate MPD for responding quickly.”
The attack came a day after President Trump confirmed that the Department of Justice and Congress were investigating the Minnesota Democrat’s skyrocketing net worth.
Trump — who has previously called for Omar to be jailed or deported to her birth country of Somalia — revealed the federal and congressional inquiries after dispatching border czar Tom Homan to ease tensions in Minnesota related to Saturday’s fatal shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by a federal immigration officer.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) blamed Trump for the attack on her fellow “Squad” colleague.
“It is not a coincidence that after days of President Trump and VP Vance putting Rep. Omar in their crosshairs with slanderous public attacks, she gets assaulted at her town hall,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X.
“Thank God she is okay,” the New York Democrat added. “If they want leaders to take down the temp, they need to look in the mirror.”
US Capitol Police (USCP) vowed that the man who “decided to assault” Omar “will be met with swift justice.”
“We are grateful for the rapid response of onsite security and our local law enforcement partners,” USCP said in a statement. “We are now working with our federal partners to see this man faces the most serious charges possible to deter this kind of violence in our society.”
USCP released a report earlier in the evening noting that in 2025 – for the third year in a row – threats against congressional lawmakers increased.
The department investigated 14,938 concerning statements, behaviors and communications directed against Members of Congress, their families, staff and the Capitol Complex last year, according to USCP.
