TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — A former student is finally behind bars after police say he made a threat to shoot up Florida A&M University on social media, earlier this month.
Court documents say on April 1, FAMU's Department of Campus Safety and Security received several text messages, emails, and phone calls in regards to someone threatening to come and shoot up the campus.
Police say the threats were specifically directed to FAMU's SGA Senate Chambers. According to documents, former student John Gibbs,25, made the threat on twitter.
One of the tweets stated, "Lets Bet!!! World War 3 in the Chamber. let's turn up! Watch the news it's going up."
Police say several of the tweets that Gibbs posted had multiple pictures and videos of guns. One of the videos even showed Gibbs face in it, according to documents.
Fortunately students recognized Gibbs from the video and were able to provide useful information throughout the night to campus safety and security.
Court documents say Gibbs has had several incidents with campus security in the past. Back in 2018, Gibbs was arrested after being caught on video destroying multiple Greek plots on campus.
Based on the information provided by concerned staff and students, FAMU Department of Campus Safety and Security along with FAMU police contacted the Broward County Sheriff's Office around 2 a.m. on April 2.
Since Gibbs was located in Broward during the time of the incident, officers informed Broward County deputies of the threat Gibbs had made.
Shorty after, documents say Gibbs was brought into custody and Baker Acted for mental evaluation. While deputies were interviewing Gibbs about the threat, he stated it was an "April Fool's Joke."
Based on the evidence, Gibbs was arrested and transported to the Leon County Detention Center on Monday. He is facing charges of written threats to kill or do bodily injury and disturbing the peace of a school campus.
