A 38-year-old man has been arrested in South Brunswick, New Jersey after allegedly posting a death threat targeting a Sherriff in Florida, and ending his statement with the words “In Minecraft”.
The threat, who local news say was made by a man named Richard Golden, was posted on 4chan’s /pol board, where terrorists like the Buffalo mass shooter have also been active. It was directed at Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood, who last month became a target of the far right after publicly speaking out in support of his local Jewish community, in response to “anti-semitic propaganda” being handed out by local Nazis.
“Just shoot Chitwood in the head and he stops being a problem. They have to find a new guy to be the problem”, the post says, before adding “But shooting Chitwood in the head solves an immediate problem permanently. Just shoot Chitwood in the head and murder him”.
“In Minecraft”.
On February 23, Central Florida Intelligence Exchange alerted Sheriff Mike Chitwood about threats being made against him on 4chan following a press conference condemning antisemitic messages pic.twitter.com/iGPZ58Vlw4
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) March 17, 2023
As Boing Boing point out, “In Minecraft” is a way people can use “a catchphrase spoken as a way to qualify a statement as not relating to the real world”. Which obviously didn’t work in this case, because as you can see in the video recorded by body cameras below, it didn’t take long for police to locate Golden at his mother’s house and arrest him. He’ll now be extradited to Floriday to face “a felony count of writing a threat to kill”.
Despite becoming the target of death threats, Chitwood is relishing his confrontation with local Nazis, joking on Twitter “What a shame. A 4chan troll has to come out of his room”.
What a shame. A 4chan troll has to come out of his room.
Thank you @SoBrunswickPD pic.twitter.com/9dI0AurKnN
— Mike Chitwood (@SheriffChitwood) March 15, 2023
“You came to the wrong county,” Chitwood said last month, addressing local hate groups. “I stand with my Jewish friends, and I’m honoured to be on your hit list. It’s an honour to be sought after by a bunch of punk thugs like you.”
Bizarrely, while some reports — like those on Dexerto and Boing Boing — show Golden’s alleged threat in full, including the Minecraft line, other outlets like Fox are leaving the reference out.
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