Eric Ting Yee wrote on an ESPN Web forum “that he could see children from where he was at and had no problem murdering them,” Los Angeles County sheriff’s Sgt. Darren Harris said Tuesday.
The Sheriff’s Department called his writings “terrorist threats” and said several weapons were found during a search of Yee’s home, making the threats appear credible. Harris said they included handguns and “at least one high-capacity-type weapon.”
Yee was arrested at 5 p.m. Monday and was still being held on $1 million bail late Tuesday. He could face charges as early as Wednesday, when sheriff’s detectives expect to present their case to the district attorney.
He was held on suspicion of making criminal threats, which carries a penalty of up to a year in jail, but prosecutors could file additional charges or different charges altogether.
A person can be convicted of making a criminal threat even if he has no intent of carrying it out, so long as the statement is intended to be taken as a threat. The law requires, though, that the threat be “unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and specific.”
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