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| ▲ A screenshot of the online post threatening to carry out a knife rampage at Gangnam Station's Exit 1 uploaded on Blind on Monday. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
knife rampage threat-police
Man apprehended for uploading knife rampage threat by pretending to be police employee
SEOUL, Aug. 22 (Yonhap) -- An office worker in his 30s was apprehended Tuesday, a day after writing an online post forewarning of a knife rampage at Seoul's Gangnam Station after signing up for a community app as a police employee.
The suspect, whose identity was withheld, was put under emergency detention near his home in Seoul at 8:32 a.m. after writing the post on the Blind app for salaried workers Monday morning saying he would launch a knife attack at Exit No. 1 of the subway station.
"You better be on guard," the writer said with a text emoji for laughing. "I will kill you all."
The post was deleted shortly after, but captured images of it spread quickly.
The incident drew wide public attention as the post was uploaded with an account presumed to belong to an incumbent police official, prompting National Police Agency Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun to order a swift investigation.
But the suspect was found to have nothing to do with the police, being neither an incumbent nor a former police employee, an official said.
It was unclear how he signed up for the app as a National Police Agency employee because verification through a workplace email account is required to do so. On the app, users can write anonymously, but every post automatically comes with a byline that includes the writer's affiliation.
The police plan to question the suspect on his motives, and review the possibility of charging him for false impersonation of a public official.
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