January 2026 TorchStone Global Monthly Executive Protection Report
TorchStone Global believes that broader situational awareness and intelligence are key to providing quality executive protection—whether the principal is a Fortune 500 CEO, international celebrity, or local city council member. Our monthly executive protection report catalogues incidents we have captured through our open-source searches that are relevant to the practice of executive protection. We hope the report will serve as a centralized source of threat activity to provide insight into current trends in threats to high-profile individuals.
For more information on customized threat tracking for at-risk individuals, threat assessments, executive protection, or other security services, please contact us.
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Summary
The TorchStone Executive Protection Report tracked 11 domestic and 6 international security incidents or updates to prior incidents impacting high-profile individuals during the month of January. Below are some key incidents of note over the past month.
Please note that the first two graphics only cover incidents that occurred over the past month and do not capture all the data in the report. Incidents that occurred in previous months, but were only reported recently, are not reflected in the graphics for the past month. They are captured in the longer-term EP Targeting Trends and Venue of EP Incidents by Target.
- Violence targeting state-level officials continued in January, with the most egregious case involving an armed attack against an Indiana judge and his wife. The attacker lured the couple to their home’s front door by claiming that he had their dog and then shot them both through the door. Both the judge and his wife survived the attack. The incident is reminiscent of the June 2025 targeting of Minnesota state lawmakers, when the shooter posed as a police officer to lure the victims into an attack and another attempted attack. While the Indiana shooting appears to be linked to an individual facing violent crime charges who was scheduled to appear in the judge’s court days after the attack, the incident may have been influenced by the rising violent sentiment against state-level officials. In addition to the June 2025 attacks in Minnesota, TorchStone has tracked at least 13 incidents of threatening communications and harassment targeting Indiana state lawmakers since November 2025. While those threats stemmed from political debate over congressional redistricting, they contributed to an overall increase in hostility towards state-level officials. Environments of increased public threats and hostility can influence violent individuals and justify their actions, even if the motives differ.
- An attack against a U.S.–Mexican TikTok influencer in Culiacán, Mexico continues to highlight how assailants can use social media profiles to determine daily routines and patterns of life to prepare their attack. On January 20, three men intercepted the influencer as she was entering a mall, forcing her into a stolen vehicle at gunpoint. The woman was released safely back to her family by January 24, under unclear circumstances, possibly after a ransom payment. A review of the influencer’s online activity showed regular travel between Culiacán and Phoenix, AZ, as well as her connection to a boutique shop in the area where she was attacked. Media reports also claim she maintained connections to a drug cartel. As TorchStone noted in a separate analysis this month, influencers who rely on social media for their living make themselves vulnerable to attacks by criminals who use their social media activity against them. It is vital to understand the risks of having a highly visible online profile and take steps to mitigate associated threats.
- Finally, the arrest of a bodyguard working for Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on multiple charges of drug trafficking highlights the importance of employing professional security teams. The bodyguard and his wife are accused of mailing over 250 parcels containing various illicit substances, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, from 2024 to 2025–while Mr. Ramaswamy was campaigning for United States president. The private security firm employing the bodyguard removed him from Ramaswamy’s detail, noting that the bodyguard passed multiple background checks, including in September 2025. While this incident was limited to reputational damage to the principal, employing criminal actors in such sensitive roles poses a real threat to the principals’ safety.
Business Executive
No Incidents to Report.
Celebrity
| Location: Atlanta, GA | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Office |
January 2, 2026: Thieves broke into the Atlanta recording studio of rapper and producer Sonny Corey Uwaezuoke (alias Sonny Digital) and stole musical equipment. An investigation into the incident is ongoing. Uwaezuoke personally urged his fans to be on the lookout for anyone attempting to sell his equipment and to report them to law enforcement immediately.
| Location: Mooresville, NC | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Home |
January 8, 2026: Retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle’s home was burglarized several weeks after he and his family died in a plane crash. $30,000 and a backpack were reportedly missing from the home. No arrests have been made, and an investigation is ongoing.
| Location: Culiacán, Mexico | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Public Area |
January 20, 2026: Three men allegedly kidnapped U.S.–Mexican TikTok influencer Nicole Pardo Molina, alias “La Nicholette,” while she was entering a mall in the Isla Musalá neighborhood. The men approached Pardo in a stolen vehicle, forced her into it at gunpoint, and left the neighborhood heading in an unspecified direction. On January 24, state police confirmed that Pardo had safely returned to her family, but the exact circumstances of her kidnapping are still uncertain. Pardo’s online profile likely helped to illustrate her daily routines and travel patterns to bad actors; her social media activity detailed her routine travel between Culiacán and Phoenix, AZ as well as her ownership of a boutique in Isla Musalá.
Federal Government
| Location: Taipei, Taiwan | Tactic: Stalking | Venue: Communication Channels |
January 1, 2026: A Chinese Weibo user shared satellite images of Legislative Yuan member Puma Shen’s residence. The post was described as a deliberate intimidation of Taiwan’s legislation intended to benefit Chinese interests.
| Location: Cincinnati, OH | Tactic: Harassment | Venue: Home |
January 5, 2026: Police arrested a man for vandalizing U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s Cincinnati home. The man smashed several of the home’s windows with a hammer as well as the window of an unmarked Secret Service vehicle on-site. Later testimonies revealed that the man had a history of mental health issues as well as a prior separate vandalism charge.
| Location: Tegucigalpa, Honduras | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Public Area |
January 8, 2026: A crude homemade explosive device was thrown at Honduran legislator Gladis Aurora López and struck her on her upper back as she traversed the Honduran Legislative Palace during a challenge of recent national election results. Despite suffering minor injuries, López remains in stable condition.
| Location: West Palm Beach, FL | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Office |
January 14, 2026: A woman drove her car into the entryway of a federal courthouse, demolishing the building’s front doors and damaging security equipment and furniture in its interior. No one was injured, but the damages are estimated to cost around $200,000. The woman left the site after the crash but was quickly located and apprehended by police. Investigations are ongoing; the woman’s motive is not yet known.
| Location: Kampala, Uganda | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Home |
January 23, 2026: Armed men broke into the home of opposition leader Bobi Wine and assaulted his wife, Barbara Kyagulanyi, in an attempt to determine Wine’s location. The men managed to evade an on-site security guard when breaking into the home. They then restrained Kyagulanyi as they searched the house and beat her to unconsciousness when she refused to unlock her phone and cooperate with their search. Emergency services took Kyagulanyi to a hospital early the next morning; despite the severity of her assault, she remains in stable condition.
| Location: Park City, UT | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Restricted Area |
January 24, 2026: Police arrested a man at the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) Sundance Film Festival party after a racially charged incident. The individual allegedly snuck into the invitation-only event, made racist comments in a restroom, and claimed pride in being “White.” He then allegedly told U.S. Representative Maxwell Frost that he was going to be deported and punched him in the face.
| Location: Minneapolis, MN | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Restricted Area |
January 27, 2026: A man rushed U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar and sprayed her with a syringe containing an unknown substance while she was speaking at a town hall. The man was quickly detained by security; hazmat teams later determined that the substance was a concoction of apple cider vinegar and water.
State Government
| Location: Snohomish, WA | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
January 3, 2026: Police arrested a man who threatened to kill Washington Governor Bob Ferguson and Attorney General Nick Brown in a series of emails sent to their respective offices in December 2025. The perpetrator’s emails claimed that he had a right to arrest, and even kill, Ferguson and Brown due to crimes they allegedly committed, and that various governmental entities were attempting to kill him over intellectual property disputes.
| Location: Edgewater, FL | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
January 13, 2026: Police arrested a man for repeatedly making threats against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other government officials on X between November 2025 and January 2026. The New York state attorney general’s office identified and reported the first threat the man made against DeSantis on November 7, 2025. Florida’s Department of Law Enforcement worked with the attorney general to identify and locate the man and succeeded in doing so on December 5. Local police interviewed the man over a week later after he made a concerning post specifically targeting their department. Despite confirming his ownership of his X account, the man continued to post threats on the platform into January 2026.
| Location: Lafayette, IN | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Home |
January 18, 2026: An assailant shot Indiana superior court judge Steven Meyer and his wife through their residence’s front door. Before shooting, the assailant got the Meyers’ attention by knocking on the door and claiming they were in possession of their dog. Both Meyer and his wife were wounded but remain in stable condition. Police arrested five suspects connected to the shooting on January 23.
Local Government
| Location: Milledgeville, GA | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
January 7, 2026: A man posted a violent and racist threat on Facebook targeting Milledgeville Mayor Mary Parham-Copelan. After detecting the post, local police interviewed the poster, but investigations remain ongoing at the local level. Georgia District Attorney Wright Barksdale has since elevated the incident to state police and intelligence services as well as the federal district attorney’s office.
| Location: Shariff Aguak, Philippines | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Public Area |
January 25, 2026: Gang members fired an RPG and an assault rifle at Shariff Aguak Mayor Akmad Ampatuan’s armored SUV as it arrived at a gas station. The SUV, despite the damage it sustained, managed to escape the gas station, although two of his bodyguards were injured—Ampatuan himself was unharmed. Authorities acknowledged that this was the fourth attack made on Ampatuan since 2010, citing his importance and divisiveness in local politics.
| Location: Culiacán, Mexico | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Public Area |
January 27, 2026: Cartel hitmen attempted an ambush attack on the Culiacán Secretary of Public Security, Colonel Alejandro Bravo Martínez, while he was responding to a citizen report with municipal police. Bravo remained unharmed, but one of the officers with him was wounded by bullet shrapnel. Police apprehended four armed suspects after a car chase through the city which resulted in a vehicular accident outside a school.
Community Leader
| Location: Columbus, OH | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Home |
December 30, 2025: Police arrested one of Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s family bodyguards on multiple charges of drug trafficking. Between 2024 and 2025, the bodyguard and his wife mailed over 250 parcels suspected of containing various illicit substances, including fentanyl and methamphetamine. The private security firm managing the bodyguard removed him from Ramaswamy’s detail; notably, the bodyguard passed multiple background checks from the security firm, the FBI, and state institutions.