The University of Missouri police department arrested two men on Wednesday, Nov. 11, for purportedly posting racist social media threats, leaving African-American students of the university deeply terrified.
Both of these two men were far from the Columbia campus at the time they were captured.
"I'm going to stand my ground tomorrow and shoot every black person I see," stated the mysterious message which triggered disturbance among the students in the university, especially the African-American students.
Hunter Park, 19, had allegedly posted threats via the anonymous posting service Yik Yak and other social media, according to a statement of the University of Missouri police. It added that Park was not within or nearby the campus when the threat was created.
Another threatening post also cropped up over Yik Yak.
"Some of you are alright. Don't go to campus tomorrow," said the post.
Police reported they caught Park 1:50 a.m. in Rolla over 90 miles southeast of Columbia. Nevertheless, Yik Yak is an application through which users share their Yaks or anonymous messages with other people in a five-mile radius.
Park, who resides in Lake St. Louis, is not a student of Mizzou. The Missouri police charged Park with creating a terrorist threat. He ended up being moved to Boone County Jail, where he had been held on a $4,500 bail.
The campus police department, though, would not want to get into details regarding the way they managed to capture Park.
The school verified that Park is a student at the Missouri University of Science and Technology located in Rolla.
Cherryl Schrader, chancellor at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, said in a statement that threats of violence of any sort aren't permitted.
She also went on to say that they are going to consider each and every threat seriously and respond to them properly to safeguard their campus community.
In the meantime, one more university student who also allegedly placed a death threat over Yik Yak was arrested by the campus police on Wednesday in his dormitory.
Connor Stottlemyre, 19, reportedly posted Yik Yak a message which once again threatened African-American students at Mizzou.
"I'm gonna shoot any black people tomorrow, so be read," says his message.
Stottlemyre studies in Northwest Missouri State University which is seated in Maryville, over 200 miles away from Columbia.
