MYSTIC, CT —A 31-year-old Mystic man, Trevor Spring, was charged by state police after New York Police Department detectives were tipped to a threatening post he made on Reddit to kill African-Americans in Harlem.

The screen-shotted post, now since deleted, said in part that it's "time to exterminate the real problem" and that he was "armed and ready to fire." Police said that Spring doesn't have guns nor access to them and he claims he had no plans to drive to New York City and kill anyone but made the threats in response to the killing of Barnard College student, Tessa Majors, 18, over "pocket change."

On Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 4 a.m., a New York Police Department detective got an anonymous tip through Crimestoppers about a threat to murder African-American people in Harlem made by now-deleted Reddit user 'Soup_For_Breakfast' in retaliation for Majors death. Investigators learned that a Reddit moderator took the threatening post down, not Spring, as was first believed.



Reddit is a social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website. Registered members submit content to the site such as links, text posts, and images, which are then voted up or down by other members. New York Police Special Activities Unit Det. Jason Morgan got a screen shot of the threatening post:



"I do believe that's black kids murdered her though. That's the real story. Why don't you pay attention to that. A black kid 13/14 year old stabbed a white gurl to death for nothing. Time to exterminate the real problem. Now he was freed by family/lawyer and let loose in HARLEM! I'm going to search for him myself tonight. Armed and ready to fire. Then the parents are next."

The NYPD contacted Connecticut State Police who went to his mother's home in North Stonington and found Spring asleep in the house.

Spring admitted to investigators that he made the post but claimed "he has no guns, or access to guns, and is not going to harm anyone or drive to New York City as stated." He said he used his phone to make the post and consented to a search of the device police said. Spring was charged with second-degree threatening and released on $5,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear at GA-10 New London at Friday Jan. 3, 2019.