Online threats against blacks net arrest at U. of Mo. campus

Associated Press

COLUMBIA, MO.

A white college student suspected of posting online threats to shoot black students and faculty at the University of Missouri was charged Wednesday with making a terrorist threat, adding to the racial tension at the heart of the protests that led two top administrators to resign this week.

Hunter M. Park, a 19-year-old sophomore studying computer science at a sister campus in Rolla, was arrested shortly before 2 a.m. at a residence hall, authorities said. The school said no weapons were found. Boone County prosecutors announced the criminal charge later Wednesday.

Park, who is enrolled at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, was jailed in Columbia, about 75 miles to the northwest.

The author of the posts, which showed up Tuesday on the anonymous location-based messaging app YikYak and other social media, threatened to “shoot every black person I see.” The posts followed the resignations Monday of the University of Missouri system president and the chancellor of its flagship campus in Columbia.

Another threat said: “Some of you are alright. Don’t go to campus tomorrow.” The message seemed to echo one that appeared on the website 4chan – a forum where racist and misogynistic comments are common – ahead of the deadly campus shooting at an Oregon community college last month.

Because the county courts were closed for Veterans Day, Park was not expected to appear before a judge until at least today.

Authorities also were investigating two other threats on YikYak involving other campuses in Missouri. One was leveled at the Rolla campus by someone saying, “I’m gonna shoot up this school.” In another case, a student at Northwest State University in Maryville was arrested Wednesday morning after purportedly posting, “I’m gonna shoot any black people tomorrow, so be ready.”

Northwest Missouri State spokesman Mark Hornickel told media outlets that authorities hadn’t linked the incident to threats at the University of Missouri’s Columbia campus.