Police have taken a second person into custody for anonymously threatening people on the University of Missouri's (UM) campus.
Unlike the first threat, made on the social media platform YikYak, not many details were available about the user who posted the message or what the message was. UM simply sated the second threat, also made on YikYak, promised "to harm others."
According to Reuters, the suspect is Connor Stottlemyre, a 19-year-old student at Northwest Missouri State University and he was apprehended in his dorm room. The school is some 220 miles west of UM's campus in Columbia.
The first suspect, Hunter Park, a 19-year-old student at the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Mo., allegedly threatened on Tuesday night to "shoot every black person" he saw when he entered UM's campus the next day. Police arrested him Tuesday night and he is due in court on Thursday for a charge of making a terrorist threat, Reuters reported.
Law enforcement stressed the UM campus was never in danger, even prior to Park's arrest.
"Students need to be aware of what is going on, but right now there is no active threat on campus," Maj. Brian Weimer, a police spokesman, told CNN. "The campus is not on lockdown. There is heightened awareness due to the national attention we are getting, but again the reports you are seeing on social media are largely inaccurate."
This past Monday marked the end of a weeklong hunger strike that Jonathan Butler, a graduate student at UM, carried out to demand the resignation of the school system president, Tim Wolfe. Butler's protest, backed by the student group Concerned Student 1950, only received national attention when the UM football team and its head coach vowed not to play football until Butler ate again.
Wolfe resigned on Monday and the school's chancellor, R. Bowen Loftin, announced he would step down as well, but decided to transition to another position. Butler was protesting Wolfe's apparent indifference to racially charged incidents on campus as well as other issues.
Since Wolfe's resignation, students have continued to engage in public demonstrations to bring awareness to their situation.
"Mizzou leadership hears your concerns and condemns threats made against our community," UM said in a statement. "We want you to know we're here and are focused on your safety and well-being. We're working as a team to continue to move forward as a stronger community."
