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 Hunter M. Park, from the St. Louis suburb of Lake St. Louis,
Missouri, was arrested on Wednesday at the Missouri University of
Science and Technology (S&T) in Rolla, where he is a sophomore
studying computer science.
S&T is part of the University of Missouri System and Rolla is about
95 miles (153 km) south of Columbia.
Another 19-year-old white Missouri college student was also arrested
on Wednesday for making threats on social media against blacks.
Connor Stottlemyre, a student at Northwest Missouri State
University, was arrested by campus police in Maryville, Missouri,
for threatening violence. It was not clear if the alleged threat was
also inspired by the turmoil at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Stottlemyre, of Blue Springs, was being held at the Nodaway County
Jail on Wednesday evening, said London Newkirk, a jail official.
Police at Northwest Missouri State, about 220 miles (354 km)
northwest of Columbia, were investigating.
The arrests came two days after the University of Missouri's
president and chancellor stepped down amid protests over their
handling of reports of racial abuse, and further raised tension on
the Columbia campus.
Park will appear in the Boone County Circuit Court for his
arraignment at 1:30 p.m.
Police said Park's threats had circulated on social media, including
Yik Yak, where an anonymous post tagged 'Columbia' late on Tuesday
read, "I'm going to stand my ground tomorrow and shoot every black
person I see."
"Some of you are all right. Don't go to campus tomorrow," another
post read. "We’re waiting for you at the parking lots," read a third
post. "We will kill you."
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Yik Yak, which cooperated with the police in tracking down Park, is
an anonymous social media app that lets users to create and view
posts within a five-mile radius.
Stottlemyre's threats were also on Yik Yak, a Northwest Missouri
State spokesman said.
Authorities in California this month arrested a freshman football
player at Fresno State University after he allegedly used the Yik
Yak app to threaten gunfire on campus.
Christian Pryor, 18, was charged with making a "terrorist threat"
after authorities tracked the phone he used to post the message,
officials said.
(Reporting by Anthony Romano, Madi Alexander and Lakshna Mehta;
Writing by Ben Klayman and Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Clarence
Fernandez)
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