http://www.clarionledger.com/story/n...life/86233562/

Sheriff says Facebook post is a threat to his life

Therese Apel, The Clarion-Ledger 7:55 a.m. CDT June 23, 2016

Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson said in a day and age when police officers around the country have been executed at gas stations and in coffee shops, he's not going to take threats lightly.

The most recent one came after a Tupelo police officer fatally shot Antwun Shumpert, 37, who allegedly wounded the officer and his K9 in a struggle. It was the second police-involved shooting in Tupelo in June.

A Facebook user known as April White posted a link to an article on the shooting that stated, "So bc a mf is whoopin you and ya b**** a** dog's a** you were forced to fatally kill him? Man GTFOH!! Jim Johnson u need to die!!!!! And your whole mf crooked a** squad!"

"I took it as a personal threat on my life," Johnson said. "I understand people get upset and say things they may not deliberately mean, but you have to take responsibility for what you say, and take into consideration the way it’s perceived. The way I looked at it and the incident she’s talking about, I had nothing to do with it. She has singled me out by name and she’s so aggravated she brought me into it for no reason, and I don’t know what she’s capable of."

Johnson said he plans to have White arrested and prosecuted. He said the district attorney is willing to press cyber threat charges and the paperwork is filled out. Once the warrant is signed by a judicial officer, they will begin the search, he said. If she is in another state, they will send her information to that state and when she is picked up on the felony warrant, Lee County will extradite, Johnson said.

White has two pages under her name and has posted several rants against police and race-tinged posts aimed at white people. Johnson said there's a difference between freedom of speech and making threats.

"You start voicing your freedom of speech, it’s fine to disagree or say they shouldn’t have shot him or should have used another means, but to put another individual that had nothing to do with it, and then wish death upon them, to me that’s where your first amendment has been stretched," he said.

In fact, Johnson says he's never even met White. He said it's not necessarily whether White, who claims to be in Wisconsin, plans to do something herself, but that her words could encourage others.

"Clearly she knows who I am, what I do, where I'm at, that I'm the sheriff of the county where this situation took place, so she knows a lot more about me than I do about her," he said. "How do I know somebody else with the same thoughts doesn’t pick up that and say, 'I'm going to make April's dreams come true?' I don’t know who she’s affiliated with, I don't know why this lady would say what she said about me."

Other users posted on White's page, supporting her and backing her for her comments. That's also bothersome, Johnson said. He and his family already take safety measures wherever they go because of the growing threat against law enforcement officers. There's no "off-duty" when it comes to safety, he said.

"It used to be that officers died in the line of duty because of an initiated threat, but now you can be doing everyday things and you're a sitting duck," Johnson said. "This is a prime example, I had nothing to do with that situation. I was out of town, I was on the Gulf Coast when it happened, and these are the thoughts this woman had against me just because of my profession. That’s where it elevates it to a threat, this is more than just somebody saying something."

The Clarion-Ledger has reached out to White for comment through Facebook. So far she has not replied.

"To say that about a complete stranger, that you’ve never met their family had no dealings with them? And that’s the first way I meet this woman is that she wishes I’m dead," Johnson said.

"She’s not got any relationship with the sheriff’s department and certainly not me personally. Looking back at her Facebook page, she’s pretty vocal in her opinion on law enforcement and how they treat the general public, with that said it looks like there’s some issue there," he said. "To incorporate me and my office into that for no reason, we can’t sit back and take threats of this nature in the days we’re living in now. The warning signs, almost every time something major happens, we go back and look and find out and some threat has been made."