A 23-year-old Florida International University student, Gabriela Saldana, has been arrested and charged with a second-degree felony for allegedly making a bomb threat targeting a campus event.
According to an arrest report, Saldana sent a message in a WhatsApp group chat that authorities interpreted as a threat to kill or do bodily harm to individuals at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center.
The message, which included a reference to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, read: 'Netanyahu, if you can hear me, drop some bonbons for us Capstone students in Ocean Bank Convocation Center.'
Investigators believe 'bonbons' was a coded reference to bombs, and Saldana also wrote that 'there is going to be a bomb in the Ocean Bank Convocation Center and it was going to be Jonathan's fault,' referring to another student in the chat.
Saldana faces a second-degree felony charge of making written threats to kill or do bodily harm.
She was arrested on April 16 and later described the messages as a 'dumb joke' aimed at expressing frustration and possibly getting the event rescheduled.
Judge Mindy S. Glazer set bail at $5,000 in bond court, ruling that the messages constituted a credible threat despite defense arguments that it was meant as a joke.
