The Columbia Police Department arrested a 23-year-old man on suspicion of harassment after he posted a threatening message on Erodr, a social media app for college students, on Wednesday.
According to the Boone County Sheriff’s Department, Phipps was released from the Boone County Jail on Wednesday after posting a $500 bond.
The social media post read: “I'll be in prison for a while. But that's okay I guess. Some of you should be ready to die tomorrow. If you want to topple a country prison is the least I can do to show you what you deserve.”
Gregory L. Phipps was arrested at 6:23 a.m. at 1115 Paquin Street on suspicion of harassment. According to the MU student, faculty and staff directory search, Phipps is a senior undergraduate chemistry student at the university.
Public Information Officer Latisha Stroer said the department received a complaint around 2:35 a.m. about a threat that was made on social media. She said Phipps was upset about Tuesday’s presidential election results.
“Officers were shown the message that was posted by Mr. Phipps and at that time he used his own name to post on Erodr and so we looked in our system, through our records system, and see if we had a Mr. Phipps in the Columbia area and located his address and contacted him on Wednesday around 6:30 in the morning,” Stroer said.
According to the report Stroer sent out yesterday around 3:30 p.m., Phipps admitted to his involvement with the post once he was arrested.
According to Erodr’s website, college students can also post anonymously on Erodr.
“He did not post anonymously and so we were able to have his name,” Stroer said. "We knew that it was tagged, geo-tagged, that it came from Columbia, Missouri and we were able to check our records system and contact him at his residence.”
Stroer said since Phipps did not post anonymously on the site, the department did not have to do a preservation letter, a subpoena or search warrant for the information from the social media site.