Another day, another Florida man has made his way into the news, but this time, the individual has committed what the police deem a federal offense. 46-year-old Democrat Shannon Depararro Atkins is very much anti-Trump and not afraid to show it. Before Donald Trump was inaugurated into office, Atkins posted on Facebook the following message, “America needs one good bullet to be saved.” Needless to say, the FBI saw this as a real threat against President Trump and took action, leading to the arrest of this particular Florida man.
The pre-inauguration Facebook post wasn’t the only message the police saw as a threat. “Bullets please. Please Jesus! Save America,” Atkins said while reposting the meme, “Jan 20th is the Day of Mourning for USA.” The Florida man was quickly banned from X, to which he admitted it was “because he said he hopes and pray someone kills him [Donald Trump].” He went on to say, “History is supposed to repeat itself. We haven’t had an assassination in years,” clearly encouraging terrorists and the like to murder the President. According to ABC News, the police learned about Atkins’ posts from someone else warning the FBI about the threat.
“Folks, this is not a joke. Nothing of that sort is a joke,” said Tony Araujo, Chief of the West Palm Beach Police Department, during a news conference addressing the Florida man’s arrest. After being taken in, Atkins reportedly said he was “joking” about the whole Trump threat ordeal, which the police didn’t believe. Many might remember the 4chan New Jersey man from 2023 who threatened to kill a Florida Sheriff “in Minecraft.” It goes without saying that Atkins didn’t even bother mincing his words, and a threat against the President of the United States is a much more serious situation, not to mention.
A call to violence against anyone should have its consequences, but many commenters on this Florida man and his Trump threat feel as though the punishment is unjust. “F—‘s sake, that is an illegal arrest,” remarks a user, with over a thousand people upvoting in agreement. “Isn’t this the type of governmental control that America was founded against?” questions another in response. “If this had been done for the last 4 years, there’d have been thousands incarcerated,” a third suggests.
Nevertheless, Florida Chief Araujo reiterates in his speech that people “really can’t say things like this in today’s climate.” He goes on to say that he and the police force “take these [threats] very seriously.” It’s not hard to see why he would say that, seeing how Donald Trump was almost assassinated on Jul 13th of last year. Still, people’s thoughts are bound to differ widely about what should happen to Atkins based on their political views or background. Whatever the case, openly or publicly threatening the President, regardless of what one thinks, is never a good idea.
