SAN ANTONIO — In a troubling series of events this week, San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, Bexar County Judge Ron Rangel, and a criminal justice attorney have been targeted with online threats, prompting swift action from law enforcement.

Former FBI agent and Director of Project Absentis, Abel Pena, explained the process of handling such threats: “These online threats are interesting. What they’re going to do is try to pull the URL. They’ll try to find the IP. I think it’s important the appropriate agencies get notified, that way they can conduct the appropriate checks to try and determine the origin of these threats,” he said.

Related: ‘We need to k*ll the mayor’: Suspect accused of posting threats against San Antonio mayor

On Tuesday, 24-year-old Marcos Rene Olvera was arrested after allegedly posting “we need to k*ll the mayor” on X, in response to a post about the mayor’s proposal to pause “Project Marvel.” Olvera has since posted bond.

Mayor Ortiz Jones emphasized the need for civil discourse, stating, “Regardless of what we are talking about, we have a civil discussion. Regardless of the issue, nobody should be making threats against anybody’s life.”

Related: “You f**ks are all dead”: Man arrested for social media threats against Bexar County judge

In a separate incident, Ryan Alcoser was also arrested on Tuesday. He remains in jail, accused of making a terroristic threat on Facebook against Judge Rangel and criminal defense attorney Anthony Cantrell, who has represented him in past cases. Alcoser allegedly posted “you are all dead” along with other profanities.

Judge Rangel noted the rise in such threats, attributing it to technology and mental illness. “I have seen these types of threats increase across the board. I think technology has a lot to do it, and I think mental illness has a lot to do with it. I think, generally speaking, because of technology, there’s a big group of conspiracy theorists that exist, and a lot of what they say online tends to go unchecked,” he said.

Jon Taylor, chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Texas at San Antonio, echoed these concerns. “The worry is, is that we could see somebody die from this, and it sets off a wave of these things. And I think that is concerning. And I know that the federal government has been concerned about this. We know that Homeland Security and Defense Department, among others, as well as our intelligence services, are worried about this. And it’s concerning for San Antonio,” Taylor said.

The San Antonio Police Department reported that their Fusion Center, which collaborates with other law enforcement agencies, was instrumental in alerting them to the threat against the mayor, leading to a quick arrest.