FBI Investigating Death Threats Made By Former Officers Against Activist Shaun King

The FBI and Long Beach police are investigating a private Facebook group that were plotting to kill activist Shaun King. The group consisted of former and retired Los Angeles county officers.

Shaun King, who is one of the head public figures for social justice, said members of the unnamed group were openly organizing to execute him.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CB3WbASJZmV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Shaun shared screenshots of the posts. He said the threats started when former Long Beach police officer Laura Tartaglione shared one of his tweets and wrote, “I think California needs to start putting a team together of retired military, police, and NRA Members. These criminals that the Democrats created need to be stopped.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CB3ZntxJPUd/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Shaun said this isn’t the first time he’s received threats, but it has never been at this magnitude.

He went into more details on his podcast, the Breakdown.

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It’s been that way for years, but they are mainly from anonymous strangers and seem more designed to intimidate me and my family than they appear to be imminent threats of physical harm. We take them all seriously, but what we found in this private Facebook group is altogether different. These were men and women, in a private group that they had no idea I’d ever see them, using their real names and identities, openly plotting to kill me and organizing each other to execute it.

A post shared by Shaun King (@shaunking) on Jun 25, 2020 at 11:09am PDT

According to KTLA, nn a statement Thursday, the Long Beach Police Department called the posts “incredibly disturbing” and said it would conduct a criminal investigation with assistance from the FBI.

Departments around Los Angeles county says the posted threats are “outrageous, disgusting, and are the antithesis of our core values as a City,” but claims to have no idea who the group members are since they are no longer with the department.

“Retired officers do not represent the department and we do not have further information,” Officer Rosario Cervantes with LAPD’s media relations department said in an email.

Someone knows — and many wonder why is Facebook allowing these threats on their platform.

Shaun said he is speaking with attorneys and working to “figure out what the best legal strategy is to hold those who made these death threats accountable.