Police shooting of black teen cited in U of Chicago threat

A 21 year-old engineering student was arrested this Monday after he made an online threat that lead to the suspension of all activities in the University of Chicago. “I will execute aproximately (sic) 16 white male students and or staff, which is the same number of time (sic) Mcdonald (sic) was killed”, the post read.

The University of Chicago may have felt it had no choice but to take the extreme step of closing for an entire day after an online threat against whites on campus that authorities say was motived by the police shooting of a black teenager, security experts said.

The University of IL at Chicago said earlier Monday that one of its students who lives off-campus was the person arrested, but the complaint did not say whether Dean was a student there.

The announcement, which he said was the first time he’s heard of the school closing for any reason besides inclement weather, also was a reminder of what residents in neighborhoods near campus, which is on the South Side of Chicago, live with every day.

Chicago resident Jabari R. Dean, 21, faces charges of transmitting a threat in interstate commerce after FBI agents investigated an anonymous threat on a social media website. I will be armed with an M-4 carbine and two desert eagles, all fully loaded. “I showed Dean the screenshot of the threatening post”. The message continued, “I will then die killing any number of white policeman in the process”.

Protesters gathered as Officer Jason Van Dyke made a Monday court appearance in the shooting of Laquan McDonald. The police officer who shot McDonald has been charged with first degree murder. Also, he stated that he was going to do his part getting rid of the world’s “white devils” as he called them, and that he expected that everybody did the same as him.

The University of Chicago, one of the leading teaching and research institutions in the nation and where President Barack Obama taught law, said in a statement Sunday night that the threat mentioned the quad, a popular gathering place, and 10 a.m. Monday.

In the latest racially charged incident to trouble the U.S. city in recent weeks, Dean allegedly admitted to posting the threat when federal agents arrived at his Chicago home.

According to Chicago Tribune reports, federal prosecutors said Dean did not have weapons to carry out the threat. “I expect you do the same”.

Dean’s uncle, Phillip Rutherford, told reporters that his nephew had no intention of carrying out his threat, calling it “just fun and games”.

Dean didn’t enter a plea and his lawyer declined comment afterward. The judge ordered Mr. Dean, who is black, be held at least until a Tuesday bond hearing. Colleges in Maryland and Kentucky have shut down for days this fall in the face of threats, while Philadelphia colleges and universities recently chose to stay open after an unspecified threat.

Some Cook County and Chicago leaders say they’re not satisfied with Mayor Rahm Emanuel dismissing Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy.

On October 1, a gunman opened fire at a community college in OR, killing nine before taking his own life.

Emanuel’s office announced Sunday that the police department would expand its use of officer body cameras from a single district to roughly a third of Chicago.