Kamal Ghorui
23-year-old Gabriela Saldana
What began as a message in a student chat has ended in an arrest, after police said a ‘joke’ crossed into a serious threat.A 23-year-old student at Florida International University (FIU) was taken into custody after sending messages in a WhatsApp group that authorities say posed a threat of violence at a campus event.Gabriela Saldana was arrested last week and later appeared in bond court, where her bail was set at $5,000. She faces a felony charge of making written threats to kill or cause bodily harm.According to police, the messages were posted in a group chat of around 215 students who were discussing an upcoming event at the university’s Ocean Bank Convocation Center.In one message, Saldana wrote: “[Israel’s Benjamin] Netanyahu, if you can hear me, drop some bonbons for us Capstone students in Ocean Bank Convocation Center.”Authorities said she followed it with a more direct statement: “There is going to be a bomb in the Ocean Bank Convocation Center and it was going to be Jonathan’s fault.”The messages were not treated as humour by the students in the group. Shortly after, Saldana responded in the chat: “I wrote a dumb joke that should not have been made.”Police said she later admitted to sending the messages.During the court hearing, Judge Mindy S. Glazer acknowledged Saldana’s claim that it was a joke, but said the legal standard depends on how the message is perceived.“I can understand your position when you are saying this is a joke, but to an objective person, it’s not a joke, and it would be enough for probable cause,” the judge said. They added: “I’m not saying it’s enough for beyond a reasonable doubt. I don’t know if the state is going to be able to prove it in trial, but for purposes of this hearing, I believe there is enough for probable cause.”The university issued a statement confirming the arrest: “An FIU student has been arrested for making a credible and imminent threat of violence at a planned university event.” It added that the suspect had identified a specific date, time and venue, and confirmed there was no ongoing threat to campus safety.
