Texas troopers and the FBI took a Converse man into custody after a tip about a planned assault on the state Capitol, and officials say he is now in federal hold, not free on bond.
A Texas Department of Public Safety SWAT team arrested 40-year-old Benny Caldera Jr. at his residence in Converse early Wednesday morning, after authorities received information about a threat to attack the Texas State Capitol in Austin on Thursday, October 1, 2026.
DPS treated the tip as credible, worked the leads with the FBI, and took Caldera into custody without incident. He was charged with a terroristic threat against a public servant, then later moved into federal custody on additional charges tied to the same plot.
Breitbart News reported that Converse sits about 13 miles northeast of San Antonio, and that Caldera was first taken to the Bexar County Jail before the FBI arrested him there late Wednesday evening.
Governor Greg Abbott praised the joint work in a social media post and made the state’s position plain.
"Texas DPS and the FBI stopped a planned attack on the Texas Capitol. Texas will NOT tolerate threats of violence against our Capitol. Thank you, TxDPS, for a job well done."
FBI Director Kash Patel said the response moved fast. On X, he credited Texas DPS and the FBI’s San Antonio office for locking down the main suspect within hours of the tip, with local law enforcement assisting.
"Outstanding work by @TxDPS. Proud of our @FBISanAntonio team for standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our state and local partners. Within HOURS of tip, @TxDPS had the main suspect in custody with @FBISanAntonio and local law enforcement assisting."
The New York Post reported that DPS received the tip Tuesday evening and that officers took Caldera into custody around 3 a.m. Wednesday in Converse. That account also said he had been released on $75,000 bond in the early state case.
DPS later updated the public on a different status. In a late Wednesday night statement, the agency said the FBI arrested Caldera at the Bexar County Jail to face additional federal charges connected to a possible planned attack at the Capitol. He was released from the jail into federal custody and “is not out on bond,” DPS said.
Few operational details have been released about weapons, tactics, or how far the plot advanced. What authorities have put on the record is the alleged motive language tied to Caldera through an acquaintance and arrest documents.
Those materials state the acquaintance reported that Caldera was angry at AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and that he said “these people have to be exterminated.” A friend also told investigators Caldera said, “I am going to the Capitol, and I am going to shoot it up,” according to the reporting on the case file.
That is the kind of language that turns a tip into a full interagency scramble. DPS and the FBI treated it as more than online bluster. They identified the suspect, found him at home, and removed him from the street before the date named in the threat.
As a precaution on Wednesday, DPS increased security at the Texas State Capitol while the investigation continued. The building remained a working seat of government, but the posture changed.
Late Wednesday, DPS said there was “no reason to believe there is an ongoing threat to the Texas State Capitol.” The agency also said it would keep the higher security presence in place and urged all Texans to stay vigilant.
That sequence matters. A tip came in. State and federal officers moved within hours. The suspect went from a Converse residence to county jail to federal custody. The Capitol got more protection, not a shutdown theater. And officials told the public the immediate danger had been contained.
Authorities have not publicly detailed the full federal charge list, any recovered weapons, or the original tipster beyond the limited account already described. Case numbers and complete charging language were not released in the initial wave of statements.
What is on the record is enough to show the system worked the way voters expect it to work. A threat against a seat of government was flagged. Troopers and FBI agents treated it as real. They made an arrest without a shootout. Then federal prosecutors stepped in so the case would not rest on a single state count alone.
Abbott’s line was not complicated: Texas will not tolerate threats of violence against the Capitol. Patel’s point was the same from the federal side, speed, partnership, and custody measured in hours, not days.
Soft-on-threat politics gets people hurt. This time, DPS and the FBI chose the other path, and a man who allegedly talked about shooting up the Capitol is in federal custody instead of on the road to Austin.
