An Arkansas man has been arrested after allegedly threatening to carry out a mass shooting at his local Walmart should the United States enter another lockdown due to a hantavirus outbreak. Aaron Keith Bynum, 20, of Oakland, Arkansas, faces charges of first-degree terroristic threatening and harassing communications, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office.
Threats Made During Online Gaming Session
The investigation began after the Federal Bureau of Investigation received a tip on May 9 from an individual who was playing an online multiplayer video game with the suspect. The tipster claimed that the player threatened to carry out a mass shooting at a local Walmart "if the country were locked down again due to the Hantavirus." Authorities stated that the tipster provided the player's gamer username along with an in-game recording of the alleged threats. The threats referenced growing public attention surrounding a hantavirus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship.
Investigation and Arrest
Investigators subpoenaed the game's parent company, which identified Bynum as the owner of the account. On May 13, the FBI's Fayetteville Field Office contacted the Marion County Sheriff's Office and handed over the information. A search warrant was obtained for Bynum's home, and on May 15, authorities searched the house in Oakland, seizing a computer and related accessories. Bynum was taken into custody without incident, according to Sheriff Gregg Alexander. He was booked into the Marion County Detention Center, with bond set at $2,500.
Hantavirus Outbreak Context
The MV Hondius cruise ship, which had 25 crew members and two medical personnel on board, docked at the Dutch port of Rotterdam for disinfection on Monday. As of May 18, the outbreak on the ship has reached at least 11 cases, nine of which have been confirmed by the World Health Organization. Three passengers have died, including a Dutch couple believed to have been the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America, as reported by The Associated Press. Eighteen Americans are currently under observation at specialized healthcare facilities in the United States designed to treat individuals with dangerous infectious diseases.
Hantavirus is typically transmitted to humans through exposure to rodents and, in rare cases, can cause hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome—a severe respiratory illness with a fatality rate between 25 and 40 percent, according to the WHO. Symptoms can rapidly escalate from fever and nausea to life-threatening lung and heart complications.
