COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – The racial tension at the heart of the protests that led two top University of Missouri administrators to resign intensified at the Columbia campus after the arrest of a white college student suspected of posting online threats to shoot black students and faculty.
Hunter M. Park, a 19-year-old sophomore studying computer science at a sister campus in Rolla, was charged Wednesday with making a terrorist threat after his arrest at a residence hall. The school said no weapons were found.
Park, who is enrolled at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, was jailed in Columbia, about 75 miles to the northwest. Because the county courts were closed for Veterans Day, Park was not expected to appear before a judge until at least Thursday.
The author of the posts, which showed up Tuesday on the anonymous location-based messaging app YikYak and other social media, threatened to “shoot every black person I see.” The posts followed the resignations on Monday of the University of Missouri system president and the chancellor of its flagship campus in Columbia.
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.