Colorado Man Arrested On Terrorism Charge During Women's Marches
PROVO, Utah (CBS4) - Utah police, with help from Colorado law enforcement, arrested a 27-year-old man Saturday who threatened to kill "as many girls as I see" in a social media post. According to police documents, Christopher Cleary posted on Facebook, "I'm 27 years old and I've never had a girlfriend before and I'm still a virgin, this is why I'm planning on shooting up a public place soon and being the next mass shooter cause I'm ready to die and all the girls the turned me down is going to make it right by killing as many girls as I see".
He also posted "Theres nothing more dangerous than man ready to die".
At the time of his arrest, several Women's Marches were taking place across the country, including nearby events in Provo and Salt Lake City.
Cleary now sits in the Utah County Jail in Provo on a felony Threat of Terrorism charge.
An officer with the Provo Police Department told CBS affiliate KUTV that a "significant bail amount" would be requested to keep Cleary in custody.
Cleary awaits extradition to Colorado. He is currently on probation for previous infractions in Jefferson County.
Early Saturday morning, Provo police were contacted by FBI officers in Colorado. The agents in Colorado were monitoring Cleary's Facebook page and tracking his cell phone, and led the local authorities to a McDonald's in southern Provo.
When Cleary was taken into custody by a Utah FBI agent, he admitted to making the threats, adding he was "upset and not thinking clearly when he did so."
Cleary said he'd arrived in Provo the day before, and had taken the Facebook posts down after receiving complaints.
Cleary also made suicidal statements to police while in custody.
According to Provo police documents, Colorado probation officers told Provo police that Cleary had shown a pattern of threatening behavior towards women.
Online public records in Colorado confirm that. They show Cleary has been arrested four times between 2014 and 2017. His last three arrests, by police in Dacono, Arvada, and Lakewood, brought harassment, stalking, and domestic violence-related charges. He received a jail time in one of those cases, probation in the others.
