Griffith Man Charged After Threatening Facebook Post
At approximately 7:19 AM on Wednesday August 24, 2022, the Highland Police Department was notified by St. John Police that they were taking a report from a St. John resident whom observed a threatening post on Facebook made against a Highland business, according to Highland Police.
The post made by the suspect stated that he was doing a community safety experiment and that at a particular time on Wednesday August 24th, a mass murder will happen at the particular Highland business.
Highland Officers and Detectives immediately went to the suspect’s place of work but he was not located there. They then went to his residence in Griffith where he was located. He was initially spoken with at his residence and ultimately he was transported to the Highland Police Department for further questioning. In less than one hour from being notified about this threat, police had the suspect in custody. After a thorough investigation by Detectives, Timothy Ackerman (a 32 year old male from Griffith, Indiana) was charged with Intimidation (Level 6 felony) and Intimidation (Class-A Misdemeanor) and he was later transported to the Lake County Jail.
The suspect stated his main reason for doing this was because he wanted to conduct a public safety experiment to witness whether law enforcement would engage or not, police told RNS. ”He not only had the opportunity to witness law enforcement’s teamwork and quick response, but now he will also have the opportunity to observe the court system at work,” Highland Police added.
This was yet another situation where somebody “saw something” and then “said something”. Police are thankful this person did the right thing and reported this incident to the police.
