Arkansas man arrested for allegedly threatening Walmart mass shooting

An Arkansas man was arrested for allegedly threatening to stage a mass shooting at his local Walmart if the country went into lockdown due to the hantavirus outbreak, authorities said.

Aaron Bynum, 20, of Oakland, was arrested Friday for allegedly making threats, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.

He was charged with first-degree terroristic threats and harassing communications.

The arrest followed an investigation into online threats Bynum allegedly made on May 9, authorities said.

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The FBI’s National Threat Operations Center received an electronic tip from a person playing an online video game who claimed that another player had threatened to stage a mass shooting at a local Walmart “if the country went into lockdown again due to Hantavirus.”

Authorities said the person making the report provided the player’s player username as well as an in-game recording of the alleged threats.

Investigators said they subpoenaed the game’s parent company, which said Bynum was the owner of the account.

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Aaron Bynum, 20, was arrested for allegedly threatening to carry out a mass shooting at Walmart if the country went into another lockdown over hantavirus concerns, authorities said. (Marion County Sheriff’s Office)

The FBI’s Fayetteville Field Office then alerted the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, and authorities executed a search warrant at Bynum’s home on Friday.

Investigators said Bynum’s computer and related accessories were seized.

Authorities said Bynum was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Marion County Detention Center on a $2,500 bond.

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An Arkansas man threatened to carry out a mass shooting at a local Walmart, authorities said. (unknown)

A hantavirus outbreak linked to the cruise ship MV Hondius sickened several people on board; WHO reported that all cases detected as of May 13 were passengers.

The World Health Organization said that as of May 13, 11 cases had been identified in connection with the outbreak, including 8 confirmed cases, 2 probable cases and 1 inconclusive case. All three deaths were linked to the outbreak, and WHO assessed the risk to the global population as low.

Canadian health officials on Sunday said one in four Canadians returning from the MV Hondius The virus test was positive. The Associated Press reported that the case in Canada brought the number of confirmed infections linked to the ship to 10, updating the WHO count from May 13.

Although the outbreak has drawn comparisons to the coronavirus pandemic, Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel previously told Fox News Digital that “there is no comparison” and noted that hantavirus is difficult to spread.

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The Andes virus confirmed in the MV Hondius outbreak is the only hantavirus documented to spread from person to person, but such transmission is rare and usually requires close, prolonged contact with a symptomatic person, the CDC says.

“It’s not an airborne thing in terms of respiratory droplets suspended in the air,” he said. “It’s very difficult to convey.”

Fox News Digital’s Angelica Stabile contributed to this report.