The US Attorney in Chicago told Reuters in a statement that 21-year-old Jabari R. Dean sent a message that threatened a murder spree over the Thanksgiving weekend as retaliation for the police killing of a black teen last year.
17-year-old Laquan McDonald was shot 16 times by a white Chicago police officer, Jason Van Dyke, in October 2014, Reuters reported. Van Dyke was charged with murder on November 24 but posted a $150,000 dollar bon, 10 percent of his $1.5 million bail amount, and was released Monday evening.
In the threat, Dean — a University of Illinois at Chicago student — reportedly stated he would execute 16 white male students or staff members at the University of Chicago campus before killing himself while taking out as many white policemen as he can in the process.
The FBI notified the university of the threat Sunday evening and the campus was shut down on Monday as a precaution. Classes will resume on Tuesday, University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer said in a statement.
Dean was arrested on Monday morning and told the FBI he posted the threat using his phone on a website but took it down almost immediately, according to the Chicago Tribune. No guns were found when investigators searched his off-campus residence, reported the Chicago Sun-Times. Dean will be held in jail until Tuesday and will be released to the custody of his mother.
Dean, an undergraduate studying electrical engineering, was charged with transmitting a threat in interstate commerce and if convicted may face up to five years in prison, reported Reuters.
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