Texarkana Poice have arrested Ricky Jared Rankin, 24, at his Texarkana Texas home early this afternoon for Terroristic Threats. Rankin made a threatening post on his Instagram account that led to his arrest. Rankin is currently being held in the Bi-State Jail. No bond has been set at this point.
Press Release:
The Texarkana Texas Police Department arrested Ricky Jared Rankin, 24, at his Texarkana Texas home early this afternoon for Terroristic Threats.
Rankin made a post Monday night on his Instagram account that included a picture of an assault rifle and the comment “I’m thinking about finally going back to school”. Upon seeing the post, people who know Rankin became concerned and notified the Texarkana Texas Police Department.
via Instagram
Detectives immediately initiated an investigation and obtained an arrest warrant for Rankin this morning. As a precautionary step, local school districts were notified of the threats and the ongoing investigation. Officers and FBI agents arrested Rankin outside his home on Park Lane without incident and then served a search warrant of the property. The weapon in the post has not been located, but weapons belonging to other family members in the home have been secured.
Chief Dan Shiner said, “We don’t know if this post was meant as a joke or if he really planned to go to a school with a gun. However, our department takes comments like this very seriously and will take swift action to protect the children in our schools. No one wants the tragic events that we’ve all seen in other places to be repeated here.”
Rankin is currently being held in the Bi-State Jail. No bond has been set at this point.
Ricky Jared Rankin, 24
(It appears to us that the rifle in the man’s post, was mistakenly identified in the press release as an AR type rifle, but in our opinion, it appears to be either a modified AK or SKS type rifle. However, we do our best to only ‘copy and paste’ the official press releases as they are.)
After more than 40 years with commercial broadcasting, I decided to do my own thing by blogging, and taking "unconsultant" gigs. It affords me the ability to stay super involved in the community, but still, have plenty of time with my 3 granddaughters and other projects.
