A screenshot posted online showing a professor at Cal Lutheran University supporting the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump has gone viral, resulting in a barrage of threatening comments to the professor.
As KNX News' Pete Demetriou reports, the professor denies the post, prompting the Simi Valley Police department to open an investigation.
The screenshot in question was of a reply to a Fox News Facebook post about the shooting with the professor of exercise science commenting, "I hope next time they don't miss and I really hope this isn't the last attempt" also expressing a wish to be personally involved with an assassination.
The professor denied making such a post, and Simi Valley Police Commander Craig Dungan said they have the authority to arrest the person who posted the image under a specific section of state law.
"Essentially, it's electronic cyber harassment," Dungan said. "Somebody created this image, launched it on the internet, it went viral, and it caused harassing messages to be placed to the victim - that's the specific crime that we're investigating."
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A violation of California Penal Code section 653.2 is considered a misdemeanor with penalties of $1,000 and up to a year in County Jail.
Dungan says cyber investigators are working to track down the person who posted the false screenshot.
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