Teen Accused in Missouri Threats Influenced by Umpqua School Shooter, Officials Say
Hunter Park, 19, was denied bond at his first court hearing today.
— -- One of the two students arrested for allegedly making terrorist threats at the University of Missouri was denied bond in his first court appearance today.
Hunter Park, 19, appeared via video from jail and did not speak throughout the hearing this afternoon. Nor did he enter a plea.
Prosecutors formally charged Park with making a terrorist threat after he allegedly posted death threats on the site Yik Yak targeting black students at the state university campus in Columbia.
Prosecutors said officials at Yik Yak and AT&T helped them track down Park, who is a student at Missouri University of Science and Technology, whose campus is located in Rolla, about 90 miles south of Columbia. Park was arrested in his dorm early Wednesday.
Missouri S&T is part of the University of Missouri system.
According to the charging documents in the case, investigators recognized part of Park's threat on Yik Yak -- which read "Some of you are alright. Don't go to campus tomorrow" -- as the same wording from a posting tied to Chris Harper-Mercer, the shooter last month at the Umpqua Community College in rural Oregon.
Park admitted to investigators he had a "deep interest" in the Oregon shooter, the charging documents state.
His next court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday.
Another student, Connor Stottlemyre, was arrested for also allegedly posting a threat to Yik Yak, with the Associated Press reporting that his message read, "I'm gonna shoot any black people tomorrow, so be ready."
A third student, Tyler Brandenberg, was charged with a felony count of making a terrorist threat, according to the Rolla Police Department. Police said he made the threat against the Missouri University of Science and Technology, which is part of the University of Missouri system.