Florida man arrested after calling for Trump assassination in social media posts; Secret Service investigating
The Secret Service is investigating after a Florida man was arrested in West Palm Beach and charged with calling for the assassination of President Donald Trump on Facebook.
West Palm Beach local Shannon Depararro Atkins, 46, was arrested after allegedly threatening the life of the president, West Palm Beach Police Chief Tony Araujo confirmed during a press conference Saturday.
Atkins is charged with felony intimidation, drug possession and smuggling contraband in a county detention facility, according to jail records.
A tip was called in to the FBI National Threat Operations Center late Sunday, reporting Atkins was making violent threats against the president on Facebook.
A Palm Beach detective began working the case on Monday, and found "disturbing" posts, according to Araujo.
Some of the posts were: "Lincoln, JFK, Reagan, Martin Luther King and Trump - unfortunately, one is still alive"; "Bullets, please. Jesus, save America"; and "I've been banned from X because I said 'I hope and pray someone kills him. We haven't had an assassination in years.'"
The department obtained probable cause and began surveillance, arresting Atkins near one of his homes at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Officers found three bags of cocaine in Atkins' pocket at the time of the arrest, according to Araujo.
While being interviewed, he admitted to writing the Facebook posts, but said he was joking, authorities said.
"Folks, this is not a joke. Nothing of that sort is a joke," Araujo said during the press conference.
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The Secret Service was notified and is reviewing the case to determine if there will be federal charges, the department said.
"The U.S. Secret Service does not comment on matters involving protective intelligence," the agency wrote in an email to Fox News Digital on Saturday. "What we can say, is that the Secret Service investigates all threats against our protectees."
Authorities confirmed the FBI was also involved in the investigation.
Araujo said, in today's climate, people cannot make threats, even jokingly.
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"We have incident after incident, example after example, of when these threats become real - and we take these very seriously," he said. "Did we avert something - you never know. I do know that we developed probable cause, we arrested Mr. Atkins, and he's going to have to answer the charges."
Atkins was issued a $5,000 bond for the drug charges, but bond was denied for the threats against Trump, according to jail records.