Former San Francisco 49ers fullback Bruce Miller was reported to the Capitol Police this week after he allegedly threatened California congressman Eric Swalwell on Twitter.
Swalwell, a democrat representing California’s 14th congressional district in the Bay Area, shared a direct message he said he received from Miller on Wednesday in which Miller threatened him.
Swalwell was not aware of who Miller was, but was shocked by how many followers he had on Twitter.
Warning, this image contains language that is NSFW.
Swalwell then reported the threat to the Capitol Police.
“My family and staff are deeply disturbed by the threat of execution… apparently by former 49er Bruce Miller,” Swalwell said in a statement. via NBC Bay Area’s Raj Mathai. “Threats of political violence are unacceptable.”
Miller appeared to confirm that the message was from him on Thursday, and insisted that he was just “trolling” and playing a “harmless game of ‘would you rather.'”
Swalwell said Thursday that the 49ers reached out to him about the threat.
“As a lifelong member of The Faithful, I appreciate them sharing their concern,” Swalwell wrote.
Miller, 35, was selected by the 49ers in the seventh round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He spent five seasons there, and was part of the team that reached the Super Bowl in 2013. Miller was released from the team before the 2016 season after he was arrested following an incident in San Francisco. He was charged with seven felonies after police said he attacked a man and his 70-year-old father after trying to enter their hotel room. That incident came about a year after he was arrested for allegedly shoving his ex-fiancee and destroying her cell phone.
Miller tried to return to the league in 2020, but played in just eight games for the Jacksonville Jaguars before he was suspended for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs. He hasn’t played since.