St. John Sheriff’s Office looking into ‘killing spree’ threat

Published 11:11 am Friday, December 4, 2015

LAPLACE — After threatening a “killing spree” on social media, St. John the Baptist Sheriff’s Office deputies are trying to locate Angela Perkins.

Sheriff Mike Tregre said he was made aware of the Facebook post attributed to Perkins on the St John Talk Facebook page Thursday night. The post read, “Thinking about going on a killing spree.”

“Multiple citizens sent it to the Sheriff’s Office’s page and also my direct page on social media,” Tregre said. “It’s not a made-up profile, Angela is a real person. We’ve been in contact with her through social media. She contacted me herself.”

Tregre said it’s always great when residents provide tips to authorities.

“One tip from the community could be that one opportunity to prevent something bad from happening,” he said. “Because these days you just never know.”

The Sheriff said he does not take a threat like this lightly.

“We looked at all of the information that was attached to her profile,” he said. “We’ve investigated all of that information.”

Tregre said authorities would find out if this post was made to be a joke or if it was meant to be a threat when they interview Perkins, adding authorities are actively looking for her.

“Any post like that we immediately try to locate that person to find out the reason for the threat or statement that was made,” Tregre said. “An investigation is done and once we locate the person, we proceed from there.”

When dealing with an issue like this, Tregre said during the interview process authorities ask multiple questions about the threat.

“We will ask what’s the purpose, motive and what they were hoping to accomplish,” he said. “We would then look into their history, if they took steps to accomplish what they posted and if it was a viable threat or is this someone in need of another type of assistance.”

According to the Sheriff, Perkins does not live in St. John Parish, and he is not releasing where authorities believe she is currently residing.

“Before the day is out, we hope to have some answers,” Tregre said Friday morning. “She does not live in St. John, and we are working with another agency right now. She used to live here, but she moved away, and we have reason to believe that she resides in another parish, but we have to verify that first.”

— By Raquel Derganz Baker