A Florida woman was arrested after she threatened to "shoot" Gov. Ron DeSantis, police said. The woman who said, via a tweet, she would kill DeSantis, also threatened to kill Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott. The tweet was posted on Thursday and police arrested her after initial investigations on Saturday.
However, after her arrest the woman reportedly claimed that her tweet was meant as a joke. Although she was released on bail on Monday, the woman was charged with three counts of written threats to kill or do bodily harm. Police in the United States have been on high alert since the US Presidential Election and anyone who has been making such threats are being brought to account.
Message Gone Wrong
According to police, Karen Jones, 55, of Palm Beach County allegedly posted a tweet wherein she expressed her desire to "shoot" DeSantis, Rubio and Scoot. "DeSantis, Rick Scott and Marco Rubio are looting my state. Imma shoot them," she had tweeted.
Jones' tweet was in response to a Washington Post tweet wherein a reporter had shared an article about proposed "anti-mob" legislation that would expand Florida's "stand your ground law." DeSantis' proposal targeted individuals who are accused of crimes related to riots and looting, as part of his wider agenda to crack down on the mass protests going on across the United States against racism and policy brutality. Incidentally, most of the protests erupted from Florida.
Jones' tweet initially went unnoticed but later resurfaced and police started tracking her. Jones, who is a registered Democrat, was finally traced on Saturday and arrested after she admitted that the tweet and the account were hers.
Threat or Joke?
On being arrested, Jones claimed that she got impulsive and tweeted but it was more of a joke. However, police didn't take it lightly. In an affidavit after her arrest, a Palm Beach County detective noted there was nothing in the message to suggest Jones was joking.
"When I made the observation that there were no commonly used terminology to show the post was a joke, Jones stated that anyone who follows her knows her sense of humor," the detective wrote. Authorities in the United States have been on high alert following mass protests and demonstrations across the country over the past few months.
Moreover, hate crime had reached a decade high in the country, which has made authorities take action against anything they feel threatening, which led to the arrest of Jones.
