COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A 19-year-old man suspected of posting online threats to shoot black students and faculty was arrested Wednesday, authorities said, adding to the racial tensions at the heart of the protests that led to the resignations of two University of Missouri leaders earlier this week.
Hunter M. Park, of Rolla, was arrested shortly before 2 a.m. and taken to jail in Columbia, about 75 miles to the northwest. Campus police booked him on a preliminary charge of suspicion of making a terrorist threat. No weapons were found.
Park, who has not yet been formally charged, is a student at Missouri Science and Technology. He was being held on $4,500 bond.
The posts, discovered Tuesday on the anonymous location-based messaging app YikYak and other social media, threatened to “shoot every black person I see.” They followed the resignations on Monday of the University of Missouri system president and the chancellor of its flagship campus in Columbia.
Park did not respond Wednesday to an emailed request for comment from The Associated Press. A message left on his mother’s cellphone was not returned.
“We had additional officers on patrol last night and the campus remained safe,” police Maj. Brian Weimer said in a statement. “We investigated a number of reports and tips and take every one of them seriously.”
SEE ALSO: University of Missouri resignations fuel backlash as campus hit with more turmoil
There were other threats, and authorities did not say if additional arrests are possible.
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.
The posts were widely disseminated across the Internet and local media.
Additional officers were already on campus before the university learned of the threats. University police were working with other state and local agencies to ensure the campus was secure, Weimer said.
The school’s online emergency information center tweeted, “There is no immediate threat to campus,” and asked students not to spread rumors.
On Wednesday morning, student foot traffic was light as Steven Loughrige made his way to class. He said he never took the threats seriously because they appeared on social media.
SEE ALSO: Melissa Click, University of Missouri assistant professor, resigns from journalism post
“I’m just disappointed that it escalated,” said Loughrige, a white junior studying engineering.
It has been a tumultuous week on the Columbia campus.
The student government president reported in September that people shouted racial slurs at him from a passing pickup truck, galvanizing a protest movement that began weeks earlier. A graduate student went on hunger strike to demand the resignation of university system President Tim Wolfe over his handling of racial complaints.
Then more than 30 members of the Missouri football team went on strike in support of the hunger striker. Those developments came to a head Monday with the resignation of Wolfe and Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin, the top administrator of the Columbia campus.
A plaza that had been the site of a sit-in by protesters was entirely empty Tuesday night, and only a handful of students were seen walking around campus. Police officers from the campus department and city of Columbia were on patrol.
Gaby Rodriguez, a senior, said she was at work when she heard about the online threats.
“It’s really disheartening and proves the point of why these protests and boycotts were necessary,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt this unsafe at Mizzou,” she said, referring to the college by its nickname.
Some students, faculty and alumni have said the protests and top leaders’ resignations are the culmination of years of racial tension.
Among other recent events, members of the Legions of Black Collegians, whose founders include a recently retired deputy chancellor, said slurs were hurled at them by an apparently drunken white student while practicing for a homecoming performance.
The university has promised changes.
Chuck Henson, a black law professor and associate dean, was appointed Tuesday as the university’s first-ever interim vice chancellor for inclusion, diversity and equity.
The university system’s governing body, the Board of Curators, also announced other initiatives, including offering more support for hiring and retaining diverse faculty and staff and performing a full review of all policies related to staff and student conduct.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.