Detailed by the Los Angeles Times earlier today, the LAPD recently arrested 20-year-old Dakkari Dijon McAnuf after he used Twitter to make a threat of violence on March 11. Posting a photo of a rifle pointing into a street within Los Angeles on his public Twitter feed, the caption of the photo read “100 RT’s and I’ll shoot someone walking.” Of course, McAnuf was referring to retweets when he referenced RT, the function on Twitter that’s similar to the Facebook Share button. Ultimately, McAnuf was implying that he would shoot indiscriminately at someone in Los Angeles if enough people shared his photo.
After the LAPD were alerted to the tweet, police were able to determine where the pictures were taken and eventually took McAnuf into custody at his home in downtown Los Angeles. The Twitter account in question, now suspended, can still be seen in Google cache. The photo received over 350 retweets before the account was suspended.
McAnuf also posted a follow-up tweet depicting someone lying down on the ground in front of an emergency vehicle. The caption of that photo read “Man Down. Mission Accomplished.” It’s unclear if that photo was from a real crime scene or simply a prank image to continue the joke.
Upon a search of McAnuf’s home, the police only discovered an air rifle on the premises. It’s likely that was the weapon depicted within the original photo and McAnuf was attempting to joke about shooting someone in the street. Unfortunately for McAnuf, the intent of the original threat has landed him in jail and he’s being held on $50,000 bail at this time. After announcing the arrest, the Los Angeles Police Department issued a statement encouraging the public to contact the authorities after discovering a similar threat made publicly on a social network.
