LUMPKIN COUNTY, Ga. — A man is in a Lumpkin County jail cell after investigators say he posted a threat on Facebook saying he planned to kill a family member, then drove toward Lumpkin County with a loaded handgun in his truck.
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According to a federal criminal complaint first identified by Court Watch, Michael Shane Fortner posted on Facebook on Oct. 6 that he intended to shoot a family member and warned people to stay out of Lumpkin County because he was going to “erase the evil from that town today.”
“We get a threat, what we call our TTLs, or threat to life,” Atlanta FBI’s Special Agent in Charge Marlo Graham said.
Graham says the FBI is constantly having to monitor Facebook threats, trying to figure out what is real and what is not.
“Everyone has to realize online is a kind of cesspool of this activity,” Graham said. “We burn through a lot of resources, a lot of time trying to determine the real from the fake.”
The complaint says agents used cellphone location data and Flock license plate reader cameras to track Fortner’s movements, which showed him traveling towards Lumpkin County.
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“There was an intended target, a person who said what they were going to do, and when they were going to do it,” Graham said.
Agents contacted the intended target and coordinated with the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office. Shortly after crossing into the county, deputies arrested Fortner, finding a loaded gun in his truck.
“We want to stop it before it ever comes to fruition. And so that’s what happened in this scenario,” Graham said.
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U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg said federal prosecutors are taking a hard line on threats made online.
“My office takes these cases seriously because people should not behave this way online. They shouldn’t behave this way on the phone. They shouldn’t threaten each other,” Hertzberg said.
Hertzberg said people who make violent threats online should expect consequences.
“We’re going to make sure that people understand that they cannot behave this way online,” Hertzberg said. “If you behave this way, you can face significant federal consequences.”
Fortner is currently being held without bond in the Lumpkin County Jail.