Two arrested in social media threats against black students at University of Missouri

Reporting from Columbia, Mo.  —  Two men were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of posting social media threats against black students at the University of Missouri, but both were far from the Columbia campus when taken into custody.

Black students were deeply disturbed by the anonymous messages, including one that said, “I’m going to stand my ground tomorrow and shoot every black person I see.”

University of Missouri police said in a Wednesday morning statement that Hunter Park, 19, had posted threats to the anonymous posting service Yik Yak and other social media but was not on or near campus “at the time of the threat.”

Another message on Yik Yak said, “Some of you are alright. Don’t go to campus tomorrow.”

Park, who is white and from Lake St. Louis, was arrested on suspicion of making terrorist threats and was being held on $4,500 bail, according to records from the Boone County jail.

University of Missouri police said in a statement that Park was arrested at 1:50 a.m. in Rolla, Mo., almost 100 miles southeast of Columbia. Officials declined to release more details.

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Concerned Student 1950 member Ayanna Poole celebrates the resignation of University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe.

  (Morgan Lieberman / For The Times)

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University of Missouri graduate student Jonathan Butler embraces his mother just moments after University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe announced his resignation. Butler held a hunger strike, saying he would not eat until Wolfe resigned.

  (Morgan Lieberman / For The Times)

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University of Missouri graduate student Jonathan Butler celebrates the resignation of University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe with Ayanna Poole, a fellow member of Concerned Student 1950. Butler held a hunger strike, saying he would not eat until Wolfe resigned.

  (Morgan Lieberman / For The Times)

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A student reacts to the resignation of University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe.

  (Morgan Lieberman / For The Times)

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Students react to the resignation of University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe.

  (Morgan Lieberman / For The Times)

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Protesters celebrate after the resignation resignation of Missouri University System President Tim Wolfe on the University of Missouri campus. Wolfe resigned after pressure from students and student athletes over his perceived insensitivity to racism on the university campus.

  (Brian Davidson / Getty Images)

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Members of the student protest group Concerned Student 1950 hold hands at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo., after the announcement that System President Tim Wolfe would resign. The football team and others on campus had been in open revolt over his handling of racial tensions at the school.

  (Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)

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Jonathan Butler, a graduate student who was on a hunger strike calling for the university president’s removal, addresses a crowd following the announcement that University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe would resign. Butler has ended his hunger strike.

  (Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)

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University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe, at right, hugs university curator Marcy Graham after announcing his resignation during a Board of Curators meeting Monday at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo.

FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this caption misidentified Wolfe; he is at right, not center.

  (Nick Schnelle / Associated Press)

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Members of the Legion of Black Collegians and the Concerned Student 1950 supporters gather outside the Reynolds Alumni Center after an emotional protest on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia, Mo.

  (Ellise Verheyen / Associated Press)

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A sign is posted where student protesters have put up tents on the University of Missouri campus Sunday in Columbia, Mo.

  (Allison Long / Associated Press)

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Supporters raise their fists in solidarity during a rally at Traditions Plaza on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia, Mo., calling for the resignation of the University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe. The group organized the rally to draw attention to race relations on campus.

  (John Happel / Associated Press)

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Members of the Concerned Student 1950 and the Legion of Black Collegians link arms during a protest in Mark Twain Dining Hall at the University of Missouri campus in Columbia, Mo.

  (Sarah Bell / AP)

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Supporters of the group Concerned Student 1950 listen to speeches during a rally at Traditions Plaza on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia, Mo., calling for the resignation of the University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe.

  (John Happel / Associated Press)

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University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe speaks Tuesday with members of Concerned Student 1950 senior Abigail Hollis, from left, senior DeShaunya Ware and junior Shelbey Parnell as they call for Wolfe’s resignation outside University Hall on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia, Mo.

  (Daniel Brenner / Associated Press)

Park is a student at the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, the school confirmed in a post on its website.

“Threats of violence of any kind are not tolerated,” Missouri University of Science and Technology Chancellor Cheryl B. Schrader said in a statement.

“We will take every threat seriously and act on them appropriately to protect our campus community,” she said.

Separately, a second college student was arrested on suspicion of posting a death threat to Yik Yak. He also does not attend the University of Missouri.

Northwest Missouri State University freshman Connor B. Stottlemyre, 19, was arrested by campus police in his dorm Wednesday morning, according to the Kansas City Star. The university is in Maryville, more than 200 miles from Columbia.

A university spokesman told the newspaper that Stottlemyre’s threat read, in part, “I’m gonna shoot any black people tomorrow, so be ready.”

Full Coverage: University of Missouri unrest

Black students were rattled by the threats, which came after a semester of mounting campus protests over racial issues that culminated with University System President Tim Wolfe and Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin announcing their resignations Monday.

Loftin tweeted that Park used “multiple accounts” to threaten students.

Some professors canceled classes and some black students left campus out of fear for their safety late Tuesday night as students — including Missouri student body President Payton Head — also circulated incorrect social media reports that Ku Klux Klan members had gathered on campus.

University of Missouri police Maj. Brian Weimer told the Los Angeles Times late Tuesday night that the department had received no reports of Klan members on campus.

Students were also unsettled by a man shouting and cursing late Tuesday night at the speaker’s circle next to the university library. Weimer said the man walked away with a friend.

Someone placed a threatening phone call to the campus’ black culture center earlier in the day Tuesday, but the center was not evacuated, said Weimer, who added that university police were maintaining a heavier presence on campus than usual.

Some black students were still upset Wednesday morning after a night in which students urged each other to walk home in groups and offer students walking alone an escort home.

“How Mizzou responds to the threat on Black lives today will dictate the progress of the school for the next 10+ years,” graduate student Jonathan Butler, 25, who held a seven-day hunger strike to call for the system president’s removal, wrote on Twitter.

University of Missouri officials said in a statement on its alert service that the university was still operating under its usual schedule, adding, “Safety is the university’s top priority, and we are working hard to assure that the campus remains safe while information is obtained and confirmed.”

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