Threat Made Over Hantavirus Outbreak
A man in Arkansas reportedly threatened to carry out a shooting at a local Walmart if a hantavirus outbreak led to a lockdown similar to that during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aaron Keith Bynum, 20, was taken into custody on Friday after allegedly making this threat while engaged in an online game. As noted in a release from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Bynum mentioned to fellow players his intention to open fire inside the nearest Walmart “if the country were to go into lockdown again due to the hantavirus.”
The threat was reported to the FBI National Threat Operations Center by another gamer on May 9. This tipster provided both a username and an in-game recording that captured Bynum’s comments.
It remains unclear whether Bynum expressed his plan verbally or through text in the game chat.
On May 11, the parent company of the online game confirmed Bynum as the account owner linked to the threat. Subsequently, the NTOC collaborated with the FBI’s Fayetteville Field Office and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators secured a search warrant and probable cause affidavit that facilitated Bynum’s arrest.
Authorities arrested him without incident on Friday, and he was booked into the Marion County Jail with a bond set at $2,500. He faces charges related to first-degree terroristic threats and harassing communications.
This hantavirus outbreak reportedly began on the MV Hondius cruise ship. The first case, an ornithologist who visited a landfill in Argentina, tragically died two weeks later aboard the ship. His wife and another individual also succumbed to the disease, which is transmitted by rodents.
The CDC is currently monitoring 41 individuals for potential infection, mostly cruise ship passengers and others who were on flights with symptomatic travelers from the ship.
While initial reports of the outbreak caused a wave of anxiety about a new pandemic, health officials have reassured the public that there is no immediate cause for significant concern.
Typically, hantaviruses are spread through contact with infected rodents or their droppings, and the standard strain is not human-to-human transmissible.
