Kerrville Police officers arrested a Mountain Home man Thursday morning on suspicion of making terroristic threats against members of the Kerrville City Council.
Robert Henry Hurt allegedly sent an email, received by at least two Kerrville City Council members and Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, that said he wouldn’t mind seeing an AK-47 assault rifle used against the City Council.
“Any threat we get in that regard, we take extremely seriously,” Kerrville Police Chief Chris McCall said Thursday morning on The Lead Live. “In today’s day and age, you have folks out there who are more willing to act on some of these things or to encourage others to do so.”
Hurt was taken into custody and booked on one count of making a terroristic threat causing fear or imminent serious bodily injury — a Class B misdemeanor. His bail was $15,000, and he was released later in the morning.
While initially a Class B misdemeanor, it elevates to a Class A misdemeanor if it involves family violence or a threat against a public servant. In a twist, Hurt is the father-in-law to the daughter of Councilmember Brenda Hughes.
“I could care less if someone shows up at a Council meeting with an AK-47 or equivalent,” Hurt allegedly wrote in his email. “And could care less about the possibility of open caskets.”
Hurt is known for his vitriolic letters, quoting Bible verses, but he has been particularly active during a controversy over LGBTQ+ books at the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library. However, this is the first time that Hurt advocated violence.
“We want to to be sure to get involved and cut those things off,” McCall said.
Kelly, who was on The Lead Live with McCall and Kerrville Mayor Judy Eychner, said he received the email and knows Hurt.
“It concerned me when I read it,” Kelly said. “I know him personally, and I’ve known him for a long time. I don’t think that’s what he intended but at the same time we have to react.”
In October, Hurt sent an email to city staff and the City Council decrying the library’s cookie decorating event.
“My recollection is that the lollipop was the No. 1 Tool in the LGBTQ+ Children’s Grooming Toolbox, and it was exposed,” wrote Robby Hurt in an email. “I am starting to wonder if it has been replaced by the “Cookie” and Cookie Decorating is one of the new tools of choice. I have not read the job descriptions of any library personnel but would think Cookie Decorating more appropriately belongs in the home, high school Homemaking Class, and Culinary Institutes.
“If your library personnel has time for this, it sounds like you could easily reduce the number of personnel and use the funds somewhere else. They need to stay in their lane.”
The grooming allegation suggests all LGBTQ+ people groom children for sex or sexual exploitation. It is an allegation frequently used by Kerr County commissioners Don Harris and Harley David Belew when discussing the library staff. One group, “We The People, Liberty In Action,” used it in its protests against the library.
“Will we continue to take our children to a library that is grooming them, normalizing sexual perversion and immorality, and exploiting children- unashamedly?” wrote Bethany Puccio, a member of “We The People.” “Will we allow people who would choose to bow to woke and evil ideology instead of to the Living God to influence our families and culture?”
