July 2025 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. With that in mind, we are launching our monthly executive protection report, cataloging 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 29 domestic and 10 international security incidents or updates to prior incidents impacting high-profile individuals during the month of July 2025. Below are some key incidents of note over the past month.
- The 28 July active shooter attack on an office tower in Manhattan served as another reminder of the threat to corporate offices and executives. While the shooter appears to have failed in his effort to reach the National Football League’s offices in the building, his intended target, he still caused multiple fatalities. The fact that the death toll was so low is in part thanks to employees’ effective use of designated saferooms or erecting barricades against doors to create improvised saferooms. While the shooter’s motive was highly specific and there is no evidence that he was part of a larger group, his tactics are replicable and could be used against other corporate targets. Preparing for active shooter attacks ahead of time is key.
- There were multiple threats to corporate executives and government leaders following deadly floods in Central Texas over the July 4th holiday weekend. Threats originally focused on the company Rainmaker and its CEO, Augustus Doricko, over conspiracy theories that the floods were intentionally caused by cloud seeding. Kerrville, TX, local officials who oversaw the initial response also reported receiving death threats and accusations that they were responsible for the flood-related deaths. U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene fanned the conspiracy theory threats by proposing legislation making cloud seeding illegal. There was no evidence that cloud seeding was linked to the floods. The threats are reminiscent of conspiracy theories and threats in response to previous natural disasters, such as Hurricane Helene in 2024.
- Several musicians have faced threats over their positions on the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. In the Netherlands, police arrested a man belonging to an extremist group for threatening a Dutch musician who refused to perform at a Jewish children’s football event. Later that week, there were threats against the British group, Bob Vylan, and the venue they were scheduled to perform at in Amsterdam. The group gained notoriety for previously leading anti-Israel chants at a festival in the UK. The threats followed a fresh exchange of attacks between Israel and Iran in late June that put the conflict back on the global center stage.
Business Executive
| Location: Moscow, Russia | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Home |
July 4, 2025: Andrei Badalov, a top Russian oil executive, died after falling from the window of his Moscow apartment. Although ruled a suicide, the mysterious circumstances of his death have sparked speculation due to the frequent, mysterious deaths of Russian executives.
| Location: El Segundo, CA | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
July 8, 2025: Augustus Doricko, founder of cloud seeding company Rainmaker, told WIRED that his company had received “in excess of 100 explicit death threats on either email or X, [with] probably about one order of magnitude more calls for [his] incarceration.” Doricko publicly clarified that his California-based company, which occasionally works with Texas farmers during drought conditions, was not in any way involved in the flash flooding event in Central Texas that led to over 100 deaths in early July. Shortly after the floods, social media users spread conspiracy theories that the disaster was deliberately caused via cloud seeding. U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene validated the conspiracy theories by proposing legislation criminalizing the practice of cloud seeding.
| Location: Encino, CA | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Home |
July 10, 2025: Robin Kaye, an American Idol executive, and her husband, Thomas Deluca, were found murdered in their home in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA, on July 14. Police found their bodies while responding to a welfare check. On July 10, police responded to reports of an attempted burglary on the property. The police who arrived on the scene could not clear the house’s outer walls and did not investigate the situation further after finding no visible indications of a break-in. On July 15, the police identified a suspect and took him into custody without bail. Later, police found that the suspect had killed the couple using their own guns from an unlocked safe. The murders demonstrate the importance of properly securing firearms in the home.
| Location: Tampa, FL | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
July 16, 2025: Police arrested a Pennsylvania man for making online threats calling for the beheading of the CEO of Tampa General Hospital, John Couris. The suspect was previously an employee at the Jupiter Medical Center during Couris’ tenure as CEO there. In 2014, Couris was responsible for firing the suspect after he falsely accused the hospital’s CFO of embezzlement. Following his firing, the suspect quietly maintained an unhealthy fixation on his former workplace and Couris. After a failed lawsuit against Jupiter Medical Center in 2020, the suspect started openly targeting and threatening Couris on his own personal website from 2023 onward, culminating in his death threats to Couris in 2025.
| Location: New York, NY | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Office |
July 28, 2025: A man who targeted the National Football League’s headquarters in Midtown Manhattan opened fire with a semiautomatic assault weapon, killing four people and critically injuring another before committing suicide. The suspect reportedly drove across the country to carry out the mass shooting. Investigators found the shooter’s note, which accused the NFL of concealing the risks of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) during football play in order to maximize profits. The shooter claimed to suffer from CTE himself. While the shooter failed to reach the NFL’s offices, NFL executives appear to have been his primary target. Of the victims, the injured individual worked for the NFL. Read TorchStone Global’s analysis of the Manhattan Attack 2025 July 8: Lessons Learned, with insights into the attack cycle.
Celebrity
| Location: Santa Barbara, CA | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
June 18, 2025: Singer Katy Perry filed a temporary restraining order against a 43-year-old Texas man who visited her Santa Barbara home several times in May 2025. Police arrested the transient man on his first appearance, but he returned one week later. The restraining order reportedly went into effect on July 14.
| Location: Essex, UK | Tactic: Stalking | Venue: Home |
June 23, 2025: James Buckley, actor in the show The Inbetweeners, reported that a woman caused him and his wife to fear for their safety after stalking the couple and threatening violence near their Essex home between June 23–25, 2025. Police arrested the suspect, and she currently faces stalking charges.
| Location: London, UK | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Home |
July 1, 2025: British singer-songwriter and guitarist James Bay asked fans for help finding two stolen guitars. In an Instagram story, the musician revealed that the vintage guitars were stolen from his car in North London and appealed to his followers for help locating them from musicians, collectors, and online stores.
| Location: Laurel, MS | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
July 1, 2024: Jamal Roberts, a winner of American Idol, received death threats after public announcements that he would win a key to the city of Laurel, Mississippi, where he is scheduled to perform on August 2. The post about the accomplishment prompted violent threats on social media, including threats to bring firearms to the event. Jamal has since declined the key to the city but has vowed to continue with the concert in Laurel.
| Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
July 2, 2025: Police arrested a man for threatening the Dutch musician Douwe Bob for declining an invitation to perform at a Jewish children’s football event. The singer fled Amsterdam for his family’s safety due to the threat. According to the police, the suspect is the leader of the Amsterdam Defense Force (ADF), a conservative far-right group.
| Location: Sydney, Australia | Tactic: Harassment | Venue: Public Area |
July 3, 2025: Police arrested a man for stalking and following Australian media personality Jackie O (full name Jackie O Henderson) after receiving calls that an unknown man in the area was stalking her. When the police investigated the suspect, they found an improvised weapon on his person and took him into custody. The suspect faces charges of stalking, intimidation, harassment, and possessing an offensive weapon with intent to commit an indictable offense.
| Location: Seoul, South Korea | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
July 4, 2025: A man opened fire on a YouTuber and his partner near the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas, Nevada. The YouTuber livestreamed walking along the Las Vegas Strip when a fellow YouTuber walked past him in the background, produced a weapon, and fired at least seven shots. People nearby fled the scene. Police arrived, declaring that both victims were deceased. While the shooting is an isolated incident, the details of the conflict between the two YouTubers are not clear. The suspect is in custody.
| Location: Hingham, MA | Tactic: Harassment | Venue: Communication Channels |
July 4, 2025: Jordon Hudson, the girlfriend of college football coach Bill Belichick, confronted a user on Instagram and accused them of stalking her. Hudson claimed that the alleged stalker coordinated several harassment campaigns against her using burner accounts. She also noted that one of the identified burner accounts is connected to the alleged stalker’s phone number.
| Location: Los Angeles, CA | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Public Area |
July 7, 2025: Burglars caused an estimated $25,000 in damage during a break-in at rapper Soulja Boy’s (DeAndre Cortez Way) flagship merchandise store. They shattered the glass entrance, spray-painted the front door, and used bolt cutters to break the locks. Stolen items included limited-edition Soulja Boy apparel, collectibles, a PlayStation console, and a custom leather jacket belonging to the rapper. The rapper has reportedly hired 24-hour security at the store in response to the break-in.
| Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Public Area |
July 7, 2025: Paradiso, an Amsterdam concert venue, received a threat ahead of a performance by British punk duo Bob Vylan. Two masked individuals held a banner outside the venue, “If Bob Vylan plays that night, Amsterdam will stand and fight.” The band has recently come under fire for lead vocalist Bobby Vylan’s political statements during the Glastonbury Festival in Britain, as he chanted, “Death, death to the IDF,” and “Free, free Palestine.”
| Location: Atlanta, GA | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Public Area |
July 8, 2025: Two staff members on Beyoncé’s current Cowboy Carter Tour reported thieves stole sensitive personal items from their vehicle, including thumb drives containing unreleased songs for the singer, show footage plans, and future set lists. The driver of the rental vehicle left the vehicle unattended for about an hour in a parking garage in Atlanta’s Inman Park neighborhood. It remains unclear whether the theft specifically targeted the tour members or if it was an opportunistic crime.
| Location: Los Angeles, CA | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Home |
July 8, 2025: Professional wrestlers Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch reported a burglary of their home to the LAPD. The two had traveled out of town for about a week, during which the perpetrator smashed a door and stole between $5,000-$10,000 in cash.
| Location: Los Angeles, CA | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Home |
July 14, 2025: Burglars attempted to gain entry to TV personality Elizabeth Chambers’ L.A. residence. Chambers was not home at the time but was monitoring her property remotely when she spotted the intruder on surveillance footage and immediately alerted police. LAPD officers arrived to find the suspect had already fled, with no signs of forced entry or anyone on the premises.
| Location: New York, NY | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
July 15, 2025: Carlos Rodón, a pitcher for the New York Yankees, reported an escalation of online death threats targeting him and his family. The comments started after Rodón pitched a loss to the Boston Red Sox. The threats are due to sports gambling.
| Location: Scottsdale, AZ | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Home |
July 16, 2025: Ketel Marte, an Arizona Diamondbacks player, reported that an individual broke into his home in Scottsdale and stole “numerous personal items,” including jewelry. Marte was not at home during the burglary.
| Location: Washington, D.C. | Tactic: Stalking | Venue: Home |
July 18, 2025: Police arrested a Maryland man for threatening to assault and kill U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and her family. The man-made threats to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s staff members and their families between October 2023 and January 2025. The suspect was a former employee of Voice of America and made his threats via phone lines connected to their main offices. A grand jury indicted him on charges of influencing a federal official by threat, influencing a federal official by threatening a family member, interstate communications with a threat to kidnap or injure, and anonymous telecommunications harassment.
| Location: Forsyth County, Georgia | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Home |
July 19, 2025: Rapper GloRilla’s (real name Gloria Hallelujah Woods) Forsyth County residence was subject to a break-in early in the morning while she was out of town to perform at the WNBA All-Star Game. Three suspects entered the home but quickly fled the scene after an armed resident fired at them. During the ensuing investigation, police discovered a marijuana supply in a bedroom closet. Following the visit from law enforcement, GloRilla turned herself in for charges including felony possession of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance.
| Location: Los Angeles, CA | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Home |
July 22, 2025: Three suspects broke into the residence of former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Teddi Mellencamp on Hayvenhurst Drive, Encino, around 10:04 pm. The family was home at the time of the incident. The suspects reportedly jumped the property’s gate and entered through a side door, triggering the residence’s alarm system and causing them to flee.
| Location: Indianapolis, IN | Tactic: Stalking | Venue: Communication Channels |
July 28, 2025: A Texas man pleaded guilty to stalking Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark from December 12, 2024, to January 11, 2025. Over this duration, the man sent violent threats and sexually explicit comments to Clark’s social media accounts, despite police confronting him for a welfare check back in January of 2025. The man said he was in an “imaginary relationship” with Clark. He faces prison and a no-contact order.
| Location: Los Angeles, CA | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Home |
July 28, 2025: A suspected burglar triggered an alarm at Ashlee Simpson’s Los Angeles area residence, prompting a police response. Upon a sweep of the property, police did not find any signs of trespassing. They believe that the alarm was falsely triggered or that the trespasser fled the scene before they arrived.
| Location: London, UK | Tactic: Stalking | Venue: Home |
July 29, 2025: In a recent interview with Australia’s 60 Minutes news program, singer Ed Sheeran revealed that he and his family have faced multiple threats in recent years, including threats to kidnap his young children. The specific dates and nature of the threats remained unclear. He indicated that he will probably maintain private security until the end of his life due to the threats.
| Location: Istanbul, Turkey | Tactic: Stalking | Venue: Other Restricted Area |
July 29, 2025: Istanbul police indicated that they received intelligence about several terrorist organizations plotting to attack a Justin Timberlake concert at Istanbul Technical University, according to the event’s organizer, Brand Union. Turkish security forces claimed that they neutralized the threats against the concert, and it proceeded as scheduled with a heavy security presence.
| Location: Los Angeles, CA | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Home |
July 30, 2025: Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto reported an attempted burglary at his home in Hollywood Hills. Yamamoto’s dog allegedly thwarted the attempted burglary after three people bypassed a private security officer, jumped a fence, and broke in through a back door. Police believe that the dog’s barking deterred the thieves, and, as a result, nothing was stolen. Yamamoto was traveling with the team for publicized away games in Cincinnati, OH, at the time. Police are attempting to determine if the burglary is connected to one of the groups of burglars operating in Los Angeles, targeting the homes of professional athletes. The FBI has cautioned professional athletes against displaying valuables on social media.
Federal Government
| Location: Dayton, OH | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
June 29, 2025: Federal authorities arrested and charged a Dayton, OH man after he left a voicemail threatening U.S. Representative Jim Jordan over potential Medicaid cuts. According to the FBI, the man left a nearly 90-second-long voicemail with threats, including: “If you vote to take my f—— Medicaid away, I’m gonna cut your f—— head off.” While the threats were made in a June 29 phone call, the details did not become public until July 29.
| Location: Sacramento, CA | Tactic: Stalking | Venue: Communication Channels |
July 2, 2025: The U.S. Department of Justice charged a suspect with soliciting the murder of federal officials, doxxing federal officials, and compiling a list of “high value targets” for political assassination. The suspect was a member of the Terrorgram Collective, a transnational terrorist group that promotes white supremacist ideology and extremism on Telegram. The suspect targeted individuals based on race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
| Location: Spring, TX | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
July 3, 2025: The FBI and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man for allegedly making threats to assault, kidnap, and murder U.S. Senator John Cornyn, from Texas. The suspect left a threatening voicemail, referring to children dying from the flooding in Kerrville, Texas.
| Location: Washington, D.C. | Tactic: Harassment | Venue: Communication Channels |
July 3, 2025: The U.S. Department of State has cautioned U.S. diplomats of attempts to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio and possibly other senior officials using AI-generated text and sound bites. The impostor attempted to reach out to at least three foreign ministers, a U.S. Senator, and a governor. The individuals received scam messages by text, Signal, and voice mail. This is the second instance of AI impersonation of a senior official in the Trump Administration, following an impersonation of President Trump’s Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, in May 2025.
| Location: Providence, RI | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
July 9, 2025: Police arrested a Rhode Island man for threatening to kill President Donald Trump, Attorney General Pamela Bondi, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. The suspect allegedly posted specific threats of gun violence to Truth Social. The FBI, U.S. Secret Service, and Providence Police Department investigated the incident.
| Location: Tel Aviv, Israel | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Home |
July 9, 2025: Israeli authorities are investigating an assassination plot against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The investigators identified a woman in her seventies who had been an anti-government activist. Authorities suspect that the woman had plans to assassinate the Prime Minister, as she attempted to obtain weapons and searched for information on the Prime Minister’s security arrangements.
| Location: Washington, D.C. | Tactic: Other Crime | Venue: Other Restricted Area |
July 16, 2025: U.S. Capitol Police arrested an Oregon man outside the Capitol with a car filled with guns, ammunition, a sword, and a bow and arrow. Capitol Police arrested the man after they noticed the unauthorized vehicle in a restricted parking lot and discovered the weapons upon inspecting the car.
| Location: Westhampton Beach, NY | Tactic: Harassment | Venue: Other Restricted Area |
July 27, 2025: Climate Defiance activists disrupted a speech of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin at a Synagogue in the Hamptons. The disruption follows a period of air quality alerts in the Northeast due to the Canadian Wildfires and recent reports announcing the Environmental Protection Agency’s weakening of the 2009 Clean Air Act. Some of the attendees threw chairs at the activists.
State Government
| Location: Oklahoma City, OK | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
July 3, 2025: An unknown individual targeted Oklahoma Democratic Party Chair John Waldron with an AI-generated sound bite that falsely depicted him making racist comments towards the former Oklahoma Democratic Party Chair. According to Waldron, the incident illustrates the use of artificial intelligence to misrepresent politicians. For example, an incident occurred earlier in July of 2025 involving the AI impersonation of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Local Government
| Location: Danbury, CT | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
June 4, 2025: Authorities arrested and charged a Danbury man for calling in threats to Mayor Roberto Alves at City Hall. During a recent court appearance, the man’s lawyer indicated that he was seeking rehabilitation for an unknown condition that was likely linked to the threats. He has pleaded “not guilty” to class A misdemeanor charges.
| Location: St. Paul, MN | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
June 14, 2025: A man sent threats to a judicial officer overseeing his child custody case, referencing the 14 June murders of Minnesota lawmakers. The man had a history of sending angry emails following child custody hearings, but his messages became more threatening within hours of the attacks on Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and State Senator John Hoffman. According to a criminal complaint, the man sent news stories of the attacks in an email titled, “This is what happens to criminals.” The body of the email read, “Hopefully more to come, we need to take the trash out, people who harm children and families intentionally should be charged with child endangerment!” The man now faces two counts of harassment for retaliating against a judicial officer and two counts of threats of violence.
| Location: Brampton, Ontario, Canada | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
June 21, 2025: On July 15, a 29-year-old man was arrested for making violent threats to Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown and his family. The man sent an email to Brown in late June, allegedly claiming that he’d kill Brown, as well as his wife and son, if he did not leave his office. Police are providing “enhanced security measures” to ensure the politician’s safety. The suspect’s motivations are currently unknown.
| Location: Iron Mountain, MI | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Office |
July 12, 2025: Local authorities charged a suspect with arson and manufacturing an explosive device after they were notified of an individual targeting the Dickinson County Republican Committee’s office with a Molotov cocktail. No people were in the building at the time. The suspect admitted the attack was politically motivated.
| Location: Kerrville, TX | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
July 14, 2025: Kerrville city staff members have received targeted threats and requested security following catastrophic flooding in the Kerrville area. The incident marks a growing trend of threats to city leaders in response to the devastating floods in Texas.
| Location: Kyle, TX | Tactic: Harassment | Venue: Other Restricted Area |
July 15, 2025: Police responded to a bomb scare in a “swatting” incident at Kyle City Hall, prompting the City Council meeting to be postponed. The incident occurred when an anonymous individual claimed a bomb was placed under a vehicle and threatened to shoot approaching police officers. Investigators found no credible threat and noted it was a case of “swatting” to cause panic and intimidation.
| Location: Mineola, NY | Tactic: Verbal/Written Threat | Venue: Communication Channels |
July 17, 2025: A man was arrested for threatening to shoot employees at the Nassau County Executive Building via phone call while he complained about his taxes. Local police traced the call to his residence and arrested him shortly after. The man was charged with one count of issuing terroristic threats.
| Location: Danville, VA | Tactic: Attack | Venue: Office |
July 30, 2025: A man attacked Danville, Virginia, city councilman J. Lee Vogler after walking into his office and dousing him with gasoline and setting him on fire. Police believe the suspect and the councilman knew one another and claim that the incident is not related to political affiliation. The suspect faces charges of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated malicious wounding.
Community Leader
No reporting for July.