NYPD Identifies Source of Threatening Tweets

Aug. 8, 2012 — -- The New York Police Department has identified the person whose Twitter account issued threats of an attack "just like in Aurora" on the Broadway theater where Mike Tyson's one-man show is playing.

"We have identified that person and we are shortly going to be interviewing that person," NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told ABC News' New York station WABC. "That person is not in New York City. Of course, there is always the possibility of someone using someone's account, so we are conducting an investigation."

The owner of the Twitter account is out of state, but Kelly would not discuss the specifics of where the person is located.

The NYPD subpoenaed Twitter Tuesday for the user's identity after the social media giant refused authorities' emergency request for the information.

"This s**t ain't no joke yo I'm serious people are gonna die just like in aurora," the user tweeted Aug. 1.

The Twitter user's account seemed to have been suspended because an error message now appears where the account was active as recently as Tuesday evening.

Kelly said the person who tweeted the threats could face charges such as reckless statement and reckless endangerment.

"Irrespective of that, this is information that we have to know," he said. "When we get a message like that, we have to react to it and find out where it came from and certainly deploy -- as we did -- additional resources."

A few days before the Aug. 1 tweet, the unidentified person posted that he or she knew that the theater left its exit doors unlocked and was going to plan the shooting "step by step."

The NYPD Intelligence Division learned of the threat late Aug. 3 and used Twitter's system for emergencies to request the identity of the account holder, according to police officials.

"Twitter turned us down, so we dispatched police to cover the theater while we sought a subpoena to force Twitter to disclose the identity of the account holder," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said in an emailed statement Tuesday.

Police officers were dispatched to New York's Longacre Theater, where Mike Tyson's one-man show, "Undisputed Truth," is playing.

"We take the threat seriously, especially in light of recent attacks in Wisconsin and Colorado," Browne said.

Alleged shooter Wade Michael Page killed six people Sunday at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis. Page, an Army veteran, was shot dead by police. Two weeks earlier, on July 20, suspected shooter James Holmes opened fire in a packed midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, Colo., killing 12 people and injuring 58.

Following email requests for comment from ABCNews.com, a spokeswoman for Twitter wrote, "We don't have a comment on this." She also sent a link to Twitter's guidelines for law enforcement.

"Twitter evaluates emergency disclosure requests on a case-by-case basis," the guidelines said. "If we receive information that gives us a good faith belief that there is an emergency involving the death or serious physical injury to a person, we may provide information necessary to prevent that harm, if we have it."

The guidelines also say that the release of private information "requires a subpoena or court order."