A man from West Palm Beach, Florida, situated just across the bridge from President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago estate, has been apprehended and charged with issuing a series of violent threats against the president via social media.
Following a tip received by the FBI, 46-year-old Shannon Depararra Atkins was taken into custody on Friday evening. He faces a charge of making written or electronic threats to kill, inflict bodily harm, or engage in a mass shooting or act of terrorism. During a traffic stop, Atkins was found to be in possession of cocaine, resulting in an additional drug-related charge.
Atkins resides a few miles from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach; however, authorities do not believe he was attempting to reach the location at the time of his arrest. He is currently being held without bail and is represented by a public defender.
The West Palm Beach police have stated that the U.S. Secret Service will assess the case to determine the possibility of federal charges. Police Chief Tony Araujo informed the media that Atkins allegedly made the threats on Facebook. An anonymous tip from Okeechobee, Florida, on January 19, indicated that Atkins had posted several “disturbing” comments regarding the assassination of the president.
Araujo noted, “They were violent rhetoric, political views, and his opinion aimed at the president.” Upon further investigation, detectives in Palm Beach discovered multiple posts from Atkins that referenced historical figures such as Lincoln, JFK, Reagan, and Trump.
“Unfortunately, one of them is still alive,” Araujo remarked about one of the posts. Another post reportedly stated, “I’ve been banned from X because I said I hope and pray someone kills him; we haven’t had an assassination in years.”
Atkins was stopped by police not far from his residence in West Palm Beach on Friday night, where cocaine was recovered from one of his pockets.
Araujo addressed reporters, stating, “This is not a joke. None of that source is a joke.” The arrest occurred just a short distance from the president’s golf course in West Palm Beach, where an assassination attempt took place last fall.
On September 15, a Secret Service advance team confronted a potential assassin after noticing the barrel of a rifle protruding from a fence surrounding the course. An agent discharged their weapon, prompting the suspect to flee approximately 300 yards from the former president’s position.
An eyewitness observed the suspect escaping the area and provided law enforcement with a physical description, along with details about the gunman’s vehicle. The individual, later identified as 58-year-old Ryan Routh, was subsequently apprehended without incident in nearby Martin County.
Routh is currently facing multiple state and federal charges, including the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate, as well as several federal firearms offenses. If convicted of the most serious charge, the suspected gunman could face a sentence of up to life in prison.
