A Philadelphia native is facing federal charges for threatening to kill former Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson, his family and other law enforcement in posts on his Facebook page, according to federal prosecutors. He also attempted to get a gun, officials said.
Jaleel Tariq Abdul-Jabbaar, a 46-year-old felon, stood before a federal judge in Seattle, Washington on Tuesday after being indicted on three counts of making interstate threats. Abdul-Jabbaar is from Philadelphia and moved to Washington over the summer, according to his Facebook page and court documents.
Over the past several months amid the unrest in Ferguson following the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, Abdul-Jabbaar wrote 14 posts to his Facebook page threatening Wilson and other white members of law enforcement, according to court documents.
The first post on Aug. 14, five days after Brown's death, said "Just finished watching the news and they haven't named the white motha f--- that shot that boy. Then we can find where that cop's child goes to school at and hope that the same can be returned back to that white cracka," the court documents stated.
Another post from Aug. 30, included in the charging papers, lodged threats against other police. "We really need to start killing the police ... OOooopppss I mean our oppressors."
After Wilson was identified, federal prosecutors said Abdul-Jabbaar made other posts indicating he planned to travel to Ferguson and harm the former officer.
"Are there any REAL BLACK MEN that would love to go down to Ferguson Missouri to give back those bullets that Police Officer Darren Wilson fired into the body of Mike Brown. If we're unable to locate Officer Darren Wilson then We'll return them to his wife and if not her then his children," one post read in the court documents.
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On the day of the grand jury's decision not to indict Wilson, court documents showed that Abdul-Jabbaar posted "We need to kill this white motha f--- and anything that has a badge on." And a later post included references to beheading white men, officials said.
Almost all of the messages had been removed from the suspect's public Facebook page. The page was taken down Wednesday afternoon.
“We are fortunate to live in a country where the right to speak out about current events and disagree with our government is protected by the highest law of the land. Our freedom of speech does not, however, extend to making threats to kill or injure law enforcement officers,” Acting United States Attorney Annette L. Hayes said in a statement.
Federal agents said they also found communications between Abdul-Jabbaar and another man where he tries to get a firearm. The suspect is barred from legally purchasing a gun because he was previously found guilty of felonies in Philadelphia related to firearm and drug charges, officials said.
Abdul-Jabbaar faces up to five years in federal prison if he's convicted of making the threats. He has a hearing scheduled for next Friday.
An attempt to reach his court-appointed attorney was not immediately returned.
