WOW: Georgia Man Arrested For Hoax Death Threats Against Ahmaud Arbery Protestors
Richard Moorhead
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A Georgia man was arrested on Sunday for making hoax death threats against protestors calling for criminal charges in Ahmaud Arbery’s death.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which earlier arrested Travis and Gregory McMichael for their involvement in the shooting death of Arbery, arrested Rashawn Smith for what they’re claiming are fake death threats. Smith allegedly created a fake Facebook account in which he posed as a racist Donald Trump supporter, who was threatening to kill protestors demanding criminal charges in the Arbery case.
Smith was arrested in Midway, Georgia. He’s facing one count of dissemination of information relating to terrorist acts. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed that the online death threats Smith made on a fake account were hoaxes.
Smith created a Facebook User ID of an unwitting individual to post a hoax threat. https://t.co/nfzIdsBMAE
— GA Bureau of Investigation (@GBI_GA) May 11, 2020
Screen capture alleged to be of the death threats Smith created showed a lengthy Facebook posts in which a man named John Hutto defended the McMichaels. The post contained a threat to “organize a mass shooting in Brunswick,” and had set off a firestorm of commentary among pro-Arbery protestors who claimed they were being genuinely targeted.
The threat, in which ‘Hutto’ claims that he’s going to get away with a mass shooting on the basis of his political connections, is clearly of doubtful veracity.
This incident would appear to be a classic hate hoax in which a narrative of persecution is deceptively constructed in order to further the agenda of a supposedly targeted political group. Protestors have appeared outside the residence of the McMichaels and the Glynn County courthouse, in some cases at the urging of unscrupulous Black Lives Matter organizer Shaun King.
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