Facebook threats to shoot up a school lands Port St. Lucie man in jail.
On April 14, 2016, Port St. Lucie Police arrested Benjamin Olsen for making threats on a Facebook chat group to shoot up a school.
The investigation into the threats began shortly after noon on April 14, 2016, when the Port St. Lucie Police Department received a call from police authorities in Bloomington, Indiana. Indiana Authorities said that a person who was on Facebook reported that a person in a chat group posted “Time to shoot up dem schools today fam”. Along with the post was a picture of a man holding a rifle. Indiana authorities were able to determine the location of the posts through the IP address, which indicated the posts came from Port St. Lucie, Florida.
Port St. Lucie Police went to the address given to them by Indiana authorities, which was in the 5400 block of NW Evanston Avenue. Upon arrival at the address Port St. Lucie Police made contact with Olsen. Olsen confirmed that he made the posts, but told police that he was just “trolling” the internet to upset people. Police confirmed that Olsen was the man in the post and subsequently located the Air Rifle that Olsen was posing with.
Upon conclusion of the investigation, Olsen was arrested for making the threats and taken to the St. Lucie County Jail for booking.