A Seattle man, Nathaniel David Foster, 34, has been charged with threatening to kill Washington Governor Bob Ferguson after allegedly detailing a plan to attack him while being evaluated at a hospital. The case matters because it involves an alleged plot against a sitting state governor, including surveillance of his official residence, and highlights ongoing concerns about the intersection of mental health crises, prior violent offences and public safety.

According to charging documents, Foster checked into Swedish First Hill hospital on 18 July while experiencing suicidal and homicidal thoughts, and allegedly told a caseworker he intended to travel to Olympia to harm the governor, monitor security patterns at the mansion, and force his way in, hurting anyone who got in his way. Prosecutors say he wanted to draw attention to grievances from a prior incarceration and have requested $50,000 (£39,000) bail with a no-contact order, citing his criminal history, which includes past robbery and assault convictions and a 2025 stabbing case dismissed on competency grounds. Foster missed an arraignment on 17 August, prompting a bench warrant, and has since been jailed on a separate malicious mischief charge.