Illinois
Wesley Chapel man accused of threatening to ‘shoot up’ former university in Illinois
Pasco man accused of threatening to ‘shoot up’ school
Josh Cascio studies
WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. – A 22-year-old Wesley Chapel man is behind bars and accused of threatening to “shoot up” his former college.
Police in Illinois stated Jonathan Zheng posted the threats on Reddit in the direction of the College of Illinois Urbana-Champaign the place he was a pupil till final yr. Authorities stated somebody noticed the threats and was extraordinarily involved, main them to inform police.
“We now have no selection however to take this critically once we see threats like this due to the truth of the state of affairs,” stated College of Illinois Police Division spokesperson Patrick Wade.
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Zheng is a former pupil on the college, though it’s unclear as to why he was dismissed from it final yr. A Reddit person seen his alleged posts and reported them to campus police.
“We have been in a position to work with Reddit to in a short time get some digital proof and determine the one that posted it,” Wade stated.
Deputies in Pasco County arrested Zheng with out incident, and so they stated he admitted to posting the threats on-line.
As of late regulation enforcement companies have a zero-tolerance coverage on the subject of on-line threats, even when they’re meant as a joke.
“On this case we do not understand how far this might’ve gone had somebody simply dismissed it as one thing they noticed on the web,” stated Pasco County Sheriff’s Workplace spokesperson Amanda Hunter. “All we will say is these usually are not jokes. We take that critically any risk of violence towards any establishment whether or not it’s a college or a authorities constructing the Pasco County Sheriff’s Workplace goes to take that critically.”