Florida police announced over the weekend that they have arrested a young white man after he wrote on Facebook that he would be getting his AR-15 back soon and that people should stay away from Walmart.
Richard Clayton, 26, allegedly wrote on Facebook, “3 more days of probation left then I get my AR-15 back. Don’t go to Walmart next week,” sparking a joint investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the Winter Park Police Department which began on August 6.
The man was arrested on Friday in Winter Park and charged with making “written threats to kill or do bodily harm,” the FDLE said on its official Facebook page. He “appears to believe in the white supremacist ideology and has a history of posting threats on Facebook using fictitious accounts,” the Department wrote, and is currently being detained on $15,000 bond.
The Florida arrest came less than a week after mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio killed dozens and shocked the country. The El Paso shooter, who left behind a white-supremacist, anti-immigrant manifesto, opened fire on August 3 at a Walmart, killing 22 and injuring 24 more with an AR-15 rifle. Police said he admitted he was attempting to kill as many Mexicans as possible during his rampage.
FBI director Christopher Wray told Congress last month that the majority of domestic-terrorism arrests since last October have been linked to white supremacy.