An Arkansas man was arrested after allegedly threatening to carry out a at his local Walmart if the country went into lockdown over the hantavirus outbreak, authorities said.
Aaron Bynum, 20, of Oakland, was arrested Friday for allegedly making the threats, according to the Marion County Sheriffs Office.
He was charged with first-degree terroristic threatening and harassing communications.
Officials said the arrest followed an investigation into online threats allegedly made by Bynum on May 9.
The FBIs National Threat Operations Center received an electronic tip from an individual playing an online video game who alleged another player threatened to carry out a mass shooting at a local Walmart “if the due to the Hantavirus.”
Authorities said the reporting individual provided the players gamer username along with an in-game recording of the alleged threats.
Investigators said they subpoenaed the games parent company, which identified Bynum as the owner of the account.
The FBIs Fayetteville Field Office then alerted the Marion County Sheriffs Office, and authorities executed a search warrant at Bynums residence Friday.
Investigators said they seized Bynums computer and related accessories.
Authorities said Bynum was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Marion County Detention Center on a $2,500 bond.
The MV Hondius cruise ship has sickened multiple people aboard the vessel, with WHO reporting as of May 13 that all cases then identified were passengers.
As of May 13, the World Health Organization said 11 cases had been identified in connection with the outbreak, including eight confirmed cases, two probable cases and one inconclusive case. Three deaths had also been linked to the outbreak, and WHO assessed the risk to the global population as low.
confirmed that one of four Canadians who returned from the MV Hondius tested positive for the virus. The Associated Press reported that the Canadian case brought the number of confirmed infections tied to the ship to 10, updating the earlier WHO count from May 13.
While the outbreak has sparked , Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel previously told Fox News Digital there is “no comparison,” noting hantavirus is difficult to spread.
The CDC says Andes virus, the strain confirmed in the MV Hondius outbreak, is the only hantavirus documented to spread from person to person, though such transmission is rare and generally requires close, prolonged contact with a symptomatic person.
“It’s not airborne … in terms of respiratory droplets hanging in the air,” he said. “It’s very difficult to transmit.”
Fox News Digitals Angelica Stabile contributed to this report.
