The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) recently announced that it has arrested a 20-year-old man for allegedly making threats towards supporters of Ahmaud Arbery that authorities have labeled a “hoax.” Rawshawn Smith allegedly created a Facebook profile under another person’s name to threaten a “mass shooting” of Arbery supporters. He has been charged with the dissemination of information relating to terroristic acts.
The New York Post reports that a 20-year-old man named Rashawn Smith has been arrested by authorities in Georgia for allegedly threatening protests in the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery. Smith was taken into custody in Midway, Georgia, and charged with dissemination of information relating to terroristic acts according to the Georgia Bureau of Information.
The agency posted a tweet that stated that “Smith created a Facebook User ID of an unwitting individual to post a hoax threat.”
Smith created a Facebook User ID of an unwitting individual to post a hoax threat. https://t.co/nfzIdsBMAE
— GA Bureau of Invest (@GBI_GA) May 11, 2020
Other unverified tweets have posted the alleged messages that Smith posted from a fake Facebook account with the name “John Hutto” in which he threatened to, “organize a mass shooting in Brunswick at the courthouse.” The alleged Facebook post can be seen below:
This is what he said…. It is terroristic threats… pic.twitter.com/wvBwVrViID
— GinaD ❤️ (@GinaD4793) May 11, 2020
The GBI stated that they were made aware of the post at 11:55 pm on Saturday. Smith’s arrest comes just days after hundreds of protestors gathered before the Glynn County courthouse calling for justice in Arbery’s death.
The two men arrested in the death of Arbery, former police officer Gregory McMichael, 64, and his don’t Travis, 34, made their first appearance before a judge via video conference from the Glynn County jail this week.
Protest organizer Travis Riddle told First Coast News after Smith’s arrest: “It’s a cowardly move. We’re expecting the cowards to come out now. I think they’re afraid of what we’re trying to get to. They see everybody coming together, young, old, white, black.”
Riddle continued: “That’s different than the approach they came up with that’s now fading away. We’re now moving towards something bigger and better, so I think they’re trying to put a fear tactic together,” he said.
“We’re not going to take it lightly by any means, but we’re also not going to let it stop us from getting the message across that we want justice for Ahmaud. We want justice for Brunswick, as well as the whole United States. Enough is enough,” Riddle said.
Riddle stated that protest organizers will be meeting this week to discuss safety measures for all protestors, stating: “We want to make sure the message is getting heard without jeopardizing people’s safety. This is the work of some cowards, and we’re dealing with some cowards right now, but they’re not going to stop us.”
Riddle’s comments seem to treat the threat as legitimate, in contrast to the GBI, which labeled Smith’s alleged post a “hoax threat.”
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.