A 22-year-old man was arrested on Thursday by Penn State police after tweeting a threat on Aug. 8 threatening to commit a mass shooting at Beaver Stadium. Charles Thomas Hitechew of Gibsonia, Penn., was charged with two counts of terrorist threats, and he was arraigned and released on Thursday with a bail of $15,000. He'll have a preliminary hearing on Wednesday.
The threat was deleted off of Hitechew's Twitter account, but some people were able to screenshot it and bring it to the police. Police started investigating the threat after it was brought to their attention.
The tweet, which came from the now-deleted anonymous account @DanielTheDuck8, read: "I have decided that I'm going to commit the biggest mass shooting in history of the world, killing thousands of fans in beaver stadium during one of the games next year."
Several accounts were also tagged, including PSU's football account and the State College Police Department.
"Penn State takes every threat seriously," University Park Police Chief Keith Morris said via statement. "The safety of our students, faculty, staff and visitors is our first priority. We again remind everyone that if they see something, say something."
Penn State is beefing up security around Happy Valley this season, although Morris said that this is independent of the threat, per Penn State's Daily Collegian. Those who enter the stadium pass through metal detectors, and bags of any kind aren't permitted in the stadium.
