Man accused of threatening to kill Allegheny County DA, encouraging mass casualty incident
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - An Allegheny County man is in jail after threatening to harm the county district attorney and encouraging a mass casualty incident.
Forty-six-year-old Joshua Thompson of Roslyn Farms allegedly posted several videos on YouTube calling for violence.
Thompson is facing charges of terroristic threats and threats to use weapons of mass destruction. He's accused of posting videos to YouTube threatening to kill District Attorney Stephen Zappala, attorney Casey White and Scott Township police.
Jackson Township police were not involved in this case, but Chief Terry Seilhamer said threats are all too common anymore online. They deal routinely with online threats.
"Over the years, it's just gotten exponentially greater and greater," the chief said.
In this particular case, police were aware of Thompson. Investigators learned of his videos on how to make a bomb, cause a mass casualty incident and encouraging others to do this.
"It's very important a lot of times, people spout things off and they don't really mean it, but occasionally people do telegraph what they intend to do," Seilhamer told KDKA.
He said most departments rely on people to alert them about these types of situations because they don't have the staff to sit and monitor social media. Even Pittsburgh police say they rely on tips to address these concerns.
"It's very hard and that's why it's basically complaint-driven at this point," Seilhamer said.
David Hickton, former U.S. attorney and founding director of Pitt Cyber, said social media companies play a role in addressing these problems.
"How could it possibly be that we can sit back passively and allow this to harm our fellow citizens?" Hickton said.
On its website, YouTube said content that encourages dangerous activities that risk harm or death is not allowed. This includes instructions on how to harm or kill others. YouTube asks people to report any content they see that violates this.
Hickton said it's challenging for law enforcement to stay ahead because there are several layers to the internet where people can hide from being monitored.
"I think we have to have a quicker trigger. I think we have to stop diluting ourselves that we can wait to the moment before someone acts," Hickton said over Zoom.
According to him, for prosecutors, it's a fine line between when speech is protected and when it becomes a crime.
Thompson is currently in the Allegheny County Jail and had his bail denied.
