Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Joonho Jun, 21, was arrested yesterday and charged with aggravated stalking after a UF student told police that Jun had been threatening him and sending him antisemitic messages for several years but had escalated to following him and pretending to shoot him in recent days.

The victim told a Gainesville Police Department that he and a witness were inside the Wawa across from campus (1614 W. University Ave.) at about 2 a.m. on February 22 when Jun walked up, made antisemitic statements, and used his hand to pantomime shooting the victim. The victim said he and the witness left the store and were walking eastbound on W. University Avenue when Jun came running up near the intersection with 13th Street and again acted out shooting the victim with his hand.

The next day, the victim and witness reportedly saw that Jun’s account had tagged the victim in several antisemitic Instagram posts that referenced Jews and included statements such as, “Let’s teach this [expletive] a lesson.” “Imma torture this [expletive] in hell,” and “you pissed off a royal bloodline im gonna [expletive] torture you eternally if you don’t apologize and bend before me.” Another post that tagged the victim reportedly showed part of Jun’s face with “oopsies look like u pissed off a mason! Watch ur back my army watches.” Similar threats were reportedly repeated in a direct message to the victim.

The victim told the officer that Jun had previously found him and pretended to shoot him and had been making antisemitic statements since he met him three years ago, in his freshman year.

The victim said he feared for his safety and believed Jun would soon follow through with physical violence because of the escalation in recent days.

Jun has no criminal history. Judge Meshon Rawls ordered him held without bail pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s office to hold him without bail until trial. She also ordered that if he is released, he is to have no contact with the victim, the witness, or the Lubavitch Chabad Jewish Center; he can possess no firearms; he must be fitted with a GPS monitoring device; and he is prohibited from using the internet.

According to the arrest report, Joonho was born in South Korea but is an American citizen.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.