DENVER — A Denver man who was on probation in Jefferson County in Colorado for stalking and threatening women was arrested in Utah after writing on Facebook that he wanted to kill as many girls as he could because he’s a virgin and hasn't dated.
The Denver Police Department said they received several calls about a post from a man threatening to cause a mass shooting in a public place. In the early morning hours Saturday, an unidentified police officer from Colorado called the Provo Police Department in Utah to report the posts, according to court documents.
The man, who has been identified as Christopher Wayne Cleary, 27, posted the following message on his Facebook page:
“All I wanted was a girlfriend, not 1000 not a bunch of hoes not money none of that. All I wanted was to be loved, yet no one cares about me 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 wrote a post that read:
"Theres nothing more dangerous than man ready to die."</blockquote>
According to the court documents, Cleary has a Denver address.
Officers tracked the computer’s IP address to an apartment complex on S. 1000 E. in Provo, Utah, but couldn’t find Cleary. Police said they were particularly concerned with these threats because several Women’s Marches were scheduled in the state that day, including one in Provo, according to the documents.
The FBI contacted the Provo Police Department and said they were in contact with the FBI out of Colorado regarding this case. The departments worked together to track Cleary’s phone and were eventually able to locate him at a McDonald's on S. University Avenue in Provo.
He was escorted out of the restaurant by an FBI agent and a detective with the Utah County Major Crimes Task Force.
Authorities then interviewed him about the Facebook threats.
Cleary admitted to writing those threats, but claimed he had been upset at the time and wasn’t thinking clearly, according to court documents. He told police he had posted the threats while in Provo, not Colorado, but deleted the post because he had received threats after publishing it.
He arrived in town on January 18 and was staying at an Airbnb.
While talking with police, Cleary made suicidal comments, the documents read. He mentioned that he had a case worker and has taken medication in the past. He has some sort of impulse disorder, he told police.
Cleary gave his phone to authorities to search and they did not find any other threats.
After the interview, Provo police arrested Cleary, citing concern for public safety and his threats to commit a terroristic act by "shooting up a public place soon and being the next mass shooter" and “killing as many girls as I see.” He was charged with one count of threat of terrorism, which is a first-degree felony.
The probation office in Jefferson County told Provo police that staff have seen a pattern of this kind of behavior from Cleary. At the time of this arrest, he was on probation for felony stalking and threats toward women, according to the court documents. The probation office intends to seek an extradition warrant for Cleary due to these threats, which caused major concern to several agencies in Colorado, the documents read. Many of the agencies believed he was still in their jurisdiction.
