Florida authorities arrested Gabriela Saldana, a 23-year-old student at Miami’s Florida International University (FIU), this month after Saldana allegedly sent messages in a large WhatsApp group chat that investigators say constituted a written threat of violence tied to a campus event.
According to police and court records, Saldana posted the messages in a group chat of roughly 200-plus students who were discussing a scheduled capstone event at FIU’s Ocean Bank Convocation Center. In one message, Saldana invoked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, writing: “Netanyahu, if you can hear me, drop some bonbons for us Capstone students in Ocean Bank Convocation Center.” Investigators said the term “bonbons” was interpreted as a reference to bombs.
