A 19-year-old computer science student was charged with making terroristic threats after someone posted an anonymous vow “to shoot every black person I see,” turning the University of Missouri’s campus into a ghost town.
Several threats on the anonymous messaging app Yik Yak spiked fears across the university already on edge over lingering racial tension.
“I’m going to stand my ground tomorrow and shoot every black person I see,” the most alarming of the messages read.
“Some of you are alright (sic),” read another Yik Yak message posted Tuesday night. “Don’t go to campus tomorrow.”
“We’re waiting for you at the parking lots,” read a third anonymous post. “We will kill you.”
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Police on Wednesday arrested Hunter Park, a sophomore at Missouri University of Science and Technology, about 100 miles from the main Mizzou campus in Columbia. The science and technology school in Rolla, Mo., is part of the University of Missouri system.
Park was busted at a residence hall just before 2 a.m. His bond was initially set at $4,500, but a judge later said he would be held without bond. No weapons were found in the dorm, police said.
Early Wednesday afternoon, police also arrested Connor Stottlemyre, 19, a student at Northwest Missouri State University, on allegations he also used Yik Yak to threaten violence against blacks at his college in Maryville.
The vile posts fueled fears of violence and backlash at the embattled Columbia campus, where black football players and a graduate student on a hunger strike led the charge to force the resignation of school president Tim Wolfe amid cries of unchecked racism.
Nearby restaurants closed for the day, several professors canceled classes and students tweeted photos showing an empty campus.
The encampment protesters who set up on school grounds over the past week mostly disappeared.
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“I saw people leaving in fear,” student Cameron Grant, 24, told the Daily News. “There were car loads. People didn’t feel safe. This is part of the movement. It just goes to show what kind of tension is going on.”
Police said Park was not at the Columbia campus when he allegedly posted the threats. Since Yik Yak only allows posts from nearby users, it was unclear where the messages were written.
Park appeared to also rant about Mizzou on Reddit Tuesday and boast about the Yik Yak messages.
A Reddit member with the same username Park had on other social media posted a complaint about Mizzou’s protests.
“Entitled mizzou students f—ed over the other um schools. I hope to see mizzou kicked out of the sec..,” the user wrote, likely referring to the Southeastern Conference and the threatened game boycott from many black Mizzou football players.
In other posts, the user wrote: “My roommates and I spoofed our gps and are trolling your yik yak. It’s fantastic … there are plenty of (android) apps that allow you to do it.”
Many other posts from the Reddit user discuss math and computer science at the Rolla site.
Police did not say which Yik Yak posts they connected to Park. Students circulated screenshots of several apparent threats from Yik Yak Tuesday night.
Comments on those posts showed clear concern from those on campus.
“What … is that supposed to mean?” one person asked.
“Please tell me you aren’t serious,” wrote another.
School officials said security would be increased after the threats. “These threats are reprehensible,” university officials said in a statement. “The process of making our campus as inclusive as it must be will not be easy. We have difficult conversations ahead, and we must all dedicate ourselves to learning together.”
The Yik Yak scare came the same night Mizzou student body president Payton Head apparently cried wolf over a Ku Klux Klan sighting on the mostly white campus.
Head, who is black, warned the campus about a “confirmed” KKK sighting and said he was working with campus police, state troopers and the National Guard to investigate. He then retracted his claim and told his social media followers to listen only to official updates from the school.
“I’m sorry about the misinformation that I have shared through social media,” he wrote on Facebook. “In a state of alarm, I was concerned for all students of the University of Missouri and wanted to ensure that everyone was safe.”
Campus police later said there was no sign of the KKK on campus.
Head’s Facebook post in September, saying someone shouted racial slurs at him while driving by in a pickup truck sparked the racially charged protests culminating in Wolfe’s resignation.
Chancellor Bowen Loftin also said he would step down to a lesser role at the university at the end of the year.
Meanwhile a Mizzou staffer was placed on leave after she was seen in a viral video bullying a student journalist trying to take pictures.
Janna Basler, director of Greek Life, was relieved of her duties pending an investigation, a school spokesman said.
Edgar Sandoval reported from Columbia, Mo.
