JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri state Rep. Anthony Ealy was arrested on Wednesday, a day after voters reelected him to a third term, after police said he threatened a man outside a business in the state capital.
Ealy, a 32-year-old Democrat who represents Grandview in Jackson County's District 36, won reelection on Tuesday with about 68 percent of the vote. By Wednesday morning he was in the Cole County Jail on misdemeanor charges of fourth-degree assault and disturbing the peace.
Jefferson City police were called just before 11:30 a.m. to an apartment building on the 600 block of East Capitol Avenue after reports of a man yelling and causing a disturbance outside a nearby business, according to the incident report. Officers said Ealy stepped toward a man, referred to a gun and told him, "I'm going to kill you." Multiple witnesses corroborated the disturbance and the threats, police said.
The incident report said Ealy appeared to be having a panic attack or a mental health crisis. A witness told FOX 4 Kansas City that Ealy disrupted a funeral service taking place nearby, upsetting a family that was making arrangements for a relative who had died.
Ealy was arrested at 11:57 a.m., according to the county's inmate portal, and was being held without bond on Thursday morning. The assault charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $2,000 fine; the disturbing-the-peace charge carries up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Ealy, an attorney, was first elected in 2022 and is the first Black representative for Grandview and the youngest to represent the district. He was removed from all of his committee assignments last spring so he could focus on personal matters, according to the chief of staff for House Democratic Minority Leader Ashley Aune.
