Washington State Man Threatened Ferguson Cop Darren Wilson: Feds

A Seattle area man was arrested Tuesday on federal charges of making online threats to kill Ferguson, Missouri, police Officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed an unarmed teenager, igniting a nationwide conversation on race and police tactics. Jaleel Tariq Abdul-Jabbaar of Kirkland, Washington, threatened Wilson's life multiple times via postings on Facebook, charge federal prosecutors in Seattle, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The 46-year-old Abdul-Jabbaar attempted to buy a gun via the social media site, telling the seller he was “going to Ferguson. Can you just sit back and do nothing. White motha [expletive] killing us like our lives ain’t [expletive],” the U.S. Attorney's Office said, the Seattle Times reported. The office said the posts began shortly after Brown was killed in August, and intensified through late November, according to KCPQ-TV in Seattle.

“We are fortunate to live in a country where the right to speak out about current events and disagree with our government is protected by the highest law of the land," acting U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes said in a written statement reported by the Seattle Times. "Our freedom of speech does not, however, extend to making threats to kill or injure law enforcement officers."

Abdul-Jabbar's Facebook postings explicitly threatened Wilson and police officers as a class, according to federal authorities.

“We need to kill [the officer] and anything that has a badge on,” he allegedly wrote in one such post.

Abdul-Jabbaar was slated to appear in federal court Tuesday afternoon, the Associated Press reported.