21-Year-Old Student Arrested for Online Shooting Threat

21-year-old student arrested for online shooting threat was brought into police custody on Sunday evening.

The 21-year-old student is identified as Emily Sakamoto. A student at the Emory University, Atlanta, she posted a threatening message online. Alarmed by what could have panned out as another tragic shooting event, colleagues who noticed the message immediately announced the police.

Emily’s message, also posted on Sunday read:

“I’m shooting up the school. Tomorrow. Stay in your rooms. The ones on the quad are the ones who will go first”.

Campus police immediately reacted to the mass shooting threat, bringing the 21-year-old student in custody. Here, she confessed that she has posted the message. There are no details on the proceedings of the case. Nor are there any motives given so far.

Threatening with mass shooting was considered by the Emory University officials as an act of terrorism. One official statement, circulated via email to all Emory University students informed that the sophomore student confessed to posting the message. In the University’s opinion, the student was making threat equal to terrorist threats.

Emily Sakamoto posed the mass shooting threat on the mobile app YikYak. Users connected to the app may see all posts that are uploaded on a radius of eight kilometers.

A 21-year-old student arrested for online shooting threat adds to the problematic list of mass shootings taking place in schools across the U.S. Approximately two weeks ago, another tragic event occurred in Oregon. An armed person entered the premises of a school and the shooting took the lives of nine students, while another 10 people were hurried to the hospital.

President Obama met with the relatives of the mass shooting victims on Friday. Repeateadly he has pleaded that more action is taken in Congress with view to gun control, but incremental political will is keeping reform at bay.

The 21-year-old student arrested for online shooting threat is currently in custody with the Newton County jail.

Photo Credits: Wikimedia