Robert Kovner mass shooting virus threat at Sebring Publix store cause not enough people are wearing masks during coronavirus pandemic.
In a sign of how anxiety ridden the times have become amid the coronavirus, a Florida man is alleged to have threatened a mass shooting at a grocery store because not enough shoppers were wearing masks.
Robert Kovner, a Brooklyn native, living in Sebring, was arrested Tuesday on a felony charge of making a written threat of a mass shooting at an unspecified Publix after making the ominous warning on Facebook, according to the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office.
‘The writer was upset that not enough people, in his opinion, are wearing masks when they are out and about,’ sheriff officials said in a statement.
‘We realize these are stressful times, but there is no excuse for making threats like this,’ the officials continued. ‘It’s not a joke. It’s not just a bad day. It’s a crime. We will ALWAYS take them seriously and you will go to jail.’
Kovner, 62, threatened Tuesday to ’empty every clip I own’ on a community Facebook page for Sebring, about 85 miles south of Orlando, according to an arrest report obtained by the Highlands News-Sun.
‘Will it take shooting a few of you selfish aholes [sic] in the parking lot to get the message through?’ Kovner allegedly posted. ‘Trust me the virus is not the only thing that may cause your demise!’
An hour later, investigators said Kovner apologized to roughly 3,300 members on the ‘Sebring Florida’ Facebook public forum before claiming he had lost seven and relatives to COVID-19. Kovner said his mother-in-law was also ‘fighting for her life’ at the time of the post, authorities said.
Bond for Kovner, who was also charged with using a two-way communication device to commit a crime, remained at $30,000 Wednesday the nypost reports.
As of Thursday, Kovner was no longer listed being in custody online records show.
Of note, there have been 21,435 cases of the coronavirus and 591 deaths in Florida as of Wednesday morning.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended people wear cloth masks to cover their nose and mouth in public to help slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Welcome to a brave post coronavirus world …
