More possible threats on social media against MU students, faculty

Protests and unrest continue on the University of Missouri campus following the resignation of UM System President Tim Wolfe and Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin.

A group gathered Friday continuing to protest racism and MU’s official response to racism on campus.

The turmoil has forced several MU officials out of their jobs and has lead some to send and post violent and threatening messages.

On Friday, ABC 17 News looked into possible new threats against University of Missouri students and an MU faculty member.

Amid terrorist threats on Yik Yak this week, several tweets were also sent with the hashtag “Mizzou.”

One of those tweets said, “It’s time whites stopped existing.” The other one encourages the shooting of whites.

However, it can be difficult to tell when something is a legitimate threat or just a harmless comment online. But when something is directed to an individual person, it’s a bit different.

An email that was sent to MU Professor Dale Brigham includes explicit language and includes the phrase, “It’s good that you’ve been unmasked, and you should in fact feel in danger just as those minorities.”

That email was in response to Brigham not cancelling class when his students expressed concern over the Yik Yak threats this week.

Whether it’s those tweets about shooting people on campus or a direct email, Detective Tracy Perkins with the Boone County Cyber Crimes Task Force said its hard to determine whether something is a legitimate threat.

“It’s the freedom of speech, and there’s a boundary where it becomes illegal, so without having to go over you know that step and say exactly this or this, you’d have to look a the law, you’d have to look at terroristic threats,” said Perkins.

ABC 17 News checked in with MUPD and local prosecutors about whether or not these possible threats were being investigated, and we did not get a response.