John Edgar Rust, a 26-year-old racist, is facing charges in connection to death threats he made towards students at the historically black Howard University, which he posted online to 4chan and Reddit in 2015. “Any niggers left at Howard University after 10 tomorrow will be the first to go,” the threat read in part, according to the Washington Post. “After all it’s not murder if they’re black.”
Rust, a registered sex offender, posted the threats from a Panera Bread in northern Virginia, even though he was barred from using the internet as part of his probation.
His messages were initially sparked by students at the University of Missouri who were protesting the university’s lack of action against racism on campus. "I left MU [University of Missouri] yesterday because I couldn’t put up with it anymore," Rust wrote. The intense protests eventually lead to the resignation of the university’s president in 2015.
He continued: "I go home to Maryland and what do I see? The same old shit. Turn on the news and it’s always the niggers causing trouble everywhere. So I’ve decided. Any niggers left at Howard University after 10 tomorrow will be the first to go. And any of those cheapskate niggers who try to get out using the metro will regret that choice real fast.”
Police were able to trace Rust’s IP address to the Panera Bread location in Alexandria, Virginia, and determine that he used several devices while at the restaurant at the same time that the messages were posted online. Rust also used his credit card at that location at around the same time.
After being confronted by authorities, Rust admitted that he had used the internet at the Panera Bread and therefore violated the terms of his probation.
Rust has since been charged with transmission in interstate commerce of a communication containing threats to injure the person of another. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison.
