Orlando Man Arrested in FDLE Threat Case: Agents Say Social-Media Posts Threatened a Mass Shooting at a Glades County Jewish Community
Jerry Sneed, 31, was arrested Wednesday by FDLE agents and Orange County deputies after an investigation that began October 19; he faces threat and communications charges, and the FDLE says the investigation remains active.
A 31-year-old Orlando man is facing threat charges after state agents say he posted social-media threats of a mass shooting against a Jewish residential community in Glades County. Jerry Sneed was arrested on Wednesday by agents of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Orange County Sheriff's Office, according to the FDLE's account as reported Sunday. He faces charges of making written or electronic threats to kill, cause bodily injury, carry out a mass shooting or commit an act of terrorism, and of unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
The investigation began on October 19, when agents from the FDLE's Fort Myers office received information about social-media posts containing the alleged threats, the agency said. Investigators said the posts included photographs identifying where the residential community was located, and an image of a firearm posted in connection with the messages. Authorities said Sneed allegedly had the same firearm shown in the post in his possession when he was taken into custody. The community itself is new — established in October and expected to include around 1,300 housing units, according to a Ynet report cited in the coverage.
Charges are allegations, and Sneed has not been convicted of anything in this case. He is being prosecuted by the State Attorney's Office of the 20th Judicial Circuit, and the FDLE said its investigation remains active. No attack was carried out, and the agency's account describes an arrest made on the posts themselves — the point in the sequence where a threat is stopped on paper and in person, before it becomes anything else.
