By Police1 Staff
ATHENS, Ga. — Police arrested a man after he threatened an officer involved in a shooting, Athens-Herald Banner reported.
In an online comment on a news story covering the officer-involved shooting, Joshua Lee Jackson said Officer David Kelley was a “dead man walking” and he “better retire now and not later.”
Kelley shot and wounded Justin Tramell Scott on April 23 after Scott threatened him with a firearm.
Once the department’s Social Media Unit discovered Jackson’s comment, they took swift action to investigate the threat, Chief Scott Freeman told the publication.
“As chief, I have a duty and obligation to ensure my officers are safe and I will not sit idly by while such overt threats are made that jeopardize their safety and life,” Freeman said.
Employing help from the FBI, authorities tracked the comment to 23-year-old Jackson. He apologized after officers took him into custody, but police aren’t taking threats lightly.
“He apologized to me for his actions,” the police chief said. “He said he didn’t mean anything by it.
Police found there is no relation between Scott and Jackson.
Jackson was booked with a felony charge of terroristic threats or acts and using a computer to make threats, a misdemeanor.