A man in New Jersey has been charged with making terroristic threats after he wrote a social media post, saying he would use a machine gun to open fire on a planned anti-gun protest.
The Star-Ledger reports that 42-year-old Shane Steele posted the threat on Facebook on Feb. 19, five days after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
“Steele allegedly authored a post on Facebook stating he intended to open fire with a machine gun at a ‘March For Our Lives’ rally,” the prosecutor’s statement said.
A spokesperson for the Ocean County Prosecutor’s office said that, although Steele quickly deleted the post which was “venting against the entire idea of rallies,” someone took a screenshot and sent it to police.
Manalapan Police traced the post to Steele’s home and arrested him Friday, but according to the Lakewood Patch, no firearms were found in his residence.
If convicted, Steele could face up to five years in prison.