Tom GantertSebring, FL – A 62-year-old man was arrested after he threatened on Facebook to start a mass shooting at Publix because there weren’t enough people wearing masks.
Robert Kovner, 62, was arrested and booked for making a written threat of a mass shooting, which is a felony, according to the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office.
“We realize these are stressful times, but there is no excuse for making threats like this,” the sheriff’s department posted on Facebook. “It’s not a joke. It’s not just a bad day. It’s a crime. We will ALWAYS take them seriously and you will go to jail.”
On Tuesday, Kovner posted on Facebook that if he contracted the coronavirus, he would head “right to Publix and empty every clip I own” on a community Facebook page for Sebring, according to the Highlands News-Sun.
His bond was $30,000.
Kovner made his post at 4:23 p.m. April 14 and said that most of the people in the Sebring area were not wearing masks or gloves.
Members on the page called the police about the post, the Highlands News-Sun reported.
Kovner also wrote on Facebook, “I FIND it criminal that you enter the supermarket or pharmacy without a mask.”
He said that people were either too stupid to understand the danger of catching the coronavirus or too selfish for not using a mask and gloves, the Highlands News-Sun reported.
In another post, Kovner wrote he carries a walking cane that is 3.5 feet long and that his arms were that long, too. He said that if anyone was within that distance of him, “trust me the virus is not the only thing that may cause your demise!”
An hour later, Kovner apologized for his post and said he had lost seven friends and family members to the coronavirus. He also said his mother-in-law was “fighting for her life” due to the virus.