Man allegedly threatens Vegas-style attack on Sask. country music festival
30-year-old suspect charged with uttering threats after social media comment
A 30-year-old man has been charged with uttering threats in connection with an online post referencing the Oct. 1 Las Vegas shooting and the Country Thunder music festival to be held Craven, Sask., next summer.
Gerry Krochak, Country Thunder's director of marketing and sales, said the festival's head office was notified of a post made on Facebook and reported it to the RCMP.
On Wednesday, RCMP in Fort Qu'Appelle began investigating and announced Friday that a 30-year-old man from the area had turned himself in.
"You know you have to take it seriously, whether it's people being social-media tough guys or whatever it is," Krochak said on Friday.
"Anytime there's a situation where there's a mass shooting or the situation in New York with the van, anything like that, I think if it leads to threats being made they need to be taken seriously, and it doesn't matter if it's in the U.S or Canada. Nobody's going to take these types of threats lightly."
Charges laid for Facebook posts before
The man accused is now facing one count of uttering a threat and one count of breach of probation.
He has been remanded into custody and is due to appear in provincial court in Fort Qu'Appelle on Monday. RCMP say the investigation remains ongoing.
Krochak said festival organizers review security plans annually and this year will be no different.
This isn't the first time RCMP have charged people in the province in connection to posts made on on Facebook.
In separate incidents, two Saskatchewan men were charged with making online threats against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in August 2016 and May 2017.