Two young women have been apprehended and charged with spray-painting about a dozen graffiti images around Poplar Bluff, Missouri, of a gun pointing at the head of a police officer, authorities said Friday.
Arrested were Crystal Glass, 22, and Hannah Allison, 21. The pair were booked on charges of property damage.
The young women were arrested for painting the emoji-like images that seemed to depict a gun ready to kill a policeman. The images began appearing around town in places such as a skate park, a parking garage, and in spots on the running path in Hendrickson Park.
Poplar Bluff Police Chief Danny Whiteley said he considered the graffiti a “terroristic threat.”
Deputy Chief Jeff Rolland then added, “A gun to my head that’s what I see. You’re trying to take me out. So we take it very seriously. We’re using all our resources.”
The two young women were taken into custody without incident, were booked, and then released pending a review by the Butler County Prosecuting Attorney’s office.
It appears that the two women were emulating the anti-cop graffiti that began to appear around Houston, Texas, earlier this week.
When the threatening emojis began to appear in Houston, Robert Goerlitz, the president of the Harris County deputies union, noted how it worried his fellow officers. “We’re just watching each other’s back a little bit closer, taking care of our brothers and sisters out there, being there for one another whenever we need to be. Don’t let someone walk into something that they don’t need to walk into,” he said.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston, or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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