The governor issued the statement to address concerns from New Yorkers after news of the threat began to spread on social media, according to a state official.

The post, published in a Reddit forum for Bronx residents that has around 2,700 members, warned that the author planned to detonate a bomb in Times Square and target minorities. The message was removed around three hours after it was published, according to Reddit users, and had garnered two up-votes — the Reddit equivalent of a “like” — and four comments.

A spokeswoman for Reddit confirmed the post had been removed and that the user had been permanently banned from the site.

One Reddit user who saw the threat took a screenshot of it and posted it on Twitter to alert law enforcement officials.

“It was alarming to see that. I don’t think we can take these things lightly now, there’s a lot of anger and things are a lot more tense today,” said Kirby Sommers, a Manhattan-based real estate consultant, who noticed the post on Sunday morning when she was doing her routine scan on Reddit for potential clients.

The post came as Times Square geared up for the busy holiday season, when shoppers flood the area’s stores and visitors line the streets to watch the ball drop on New Years Eve. Around 360,000 people visited the area daily in November and December 2018, according to the Times Square Alliance, which supports local businesses.