An Arkansas resident has been taken into custody for allegedly threatening a mass shooting at a Walmart in response to potential lockdown measures due to the hantavirus outbreak, according to law enforcement officials.
The individual, identified as 20-year-old Aaron Bynum from Oakland, was apprehended on Friday, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office reported.
Bynum faces charges of terroristic threatening in the first degree and making harassing communications.
The arrest came after a thorough investigation into online threats purportedly posted by Bynum on May 9.
The authorities have detained an Arkansas man accused of making threats about a Walmart shooting over concerns about a hantavirus-related lockdown. (Marion County Sheriff’s Office; iStock)
The FBI’s National Threat Operations Center received an electronic tip from an individual playing an online video game who alleged another player threatened to carry out a mass shooting at a local Walmart “if the country were locked down again due to the Hantavirus.”
Authorities said the reporting individual provided the player’s gamer username along with an in-game recording of the alleged threats.
Investigators said they subpoenaed the game’s parent company, which identified Bynum as the owner of the account.
Aaron Bynum, 20, was arrested after allegedly threatening to carry out a mass shooting at a Walmart if the country entered another lockdown over hantavirus concerns, authorities said. (Marion County Sheriff Office)
The FBI’s Fayetteville Field Office then alerted the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, and authorities executed a search warrant at Bynum’s residence Friday.
Investigators said they seized Bynum’s computer and related accessories.
Authorities said Bynum was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Marion County Detention Center on a $2,500 bond.
Authorities said an Arkansas man threatened to carry out a mass shooting at a local Walmart. (unknown)
The hantavirus outbreak tied to the MV Hondius cruise ship has sickened multiple people aboard the vessel, with WHO reporting as of May 13 that all cases then identified were passengers.
As of May 13, the World Health Organization said 11 cases had been identified in connection with the outbreak, including eight confirmed cases, two probable cases and one inconclusive case. Three deaths had also been linked to the outbreak, and WHO assessed the risk to the global population as low.
Canadian health officials on Sunday confirmed that one of four Canadians who returned from the MV Hondius tested positive for the virus. The Associated Press reported that the Canadian case brought the number of confirmed infections tied to the ship to 10, updating the earlier WHO count from May 13.
While the outbreak has sparked comparisons to the coronavirus pandemic, Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel previously told Fox News Digital there is “no comparison,” noting hantavirus is difficult to spread.
The CDC says Andes virus, the strain confirmed in the MV Hondius outbreak, is the only hantavirus documented to spread from person to person, though such transmission is rare and generally requires close, prolonged contact with a symptomatic person.
“It’s not airborne … in terms of respiratory droplets hanging in the air,” he said. “It’s very difficult to transmit.”
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