Tucson man accused of cyberstalking, mass shooting threat against University of Arizona
A 29-year-old man was arrested this month on a federal indictment warrant on charges of cyberstalking and threatening a University of Arizona student.
The FBI’s Southern Arizona Violent Crime and Gang Task Force took the Tucson man into custody on May 8. The Arizona Republic is not naming the man because it does not plan to follow his case through the judicial process.
The man was accused of sending a message via Facebook Messenger to the victim in February, stating “Think I’ll just go rape and kill a girl at this point. I give up. I’m the bad guy.” The next day, the suspect was served with an injunction against harassment, which prohibited contact with the victim. He was also served with a 12-month exclusionary order from all University of Arizona properties.
Authorities said the suspect continued cyberstalking the victim through March 1, which was the day he made an anonymous 911 call to Pima County Sheriff's Department to report that his friend said he would commit a mass shooting at a specific University of Arizona building.
The call was disconnected before the 911 operator was able to transfer the call to the University of Arizona Police Department, according to a statement released by the FBI. However, the sheriff's department provided the caller's phone number to UA authorities and UAPD recognized the number to belong to the suspect.
Later that day, officials said UAPD received a call from a Tucson Police dispatcher who transferred a 911 caller relaying a similar message: The caller's friend “sent some threatening messages about wanting to commit a mass shooting.”
The suspect had identified the cyberstalking victim as the "friend" sending the threatening messages, officials said. A UAPD officer familiar with the suspect listened to a recording of the call and determined the caller's identity.
The suspect turned himself into the FBI on an indictment warrant.
A conviction for cyberstalking and transmitting interstate threats each carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both, and a maximum term of three years of supervised release.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: FBI arrests man accused of cyberstalking UA student, making threats
