MORGANTOWN — A West Virginia University freshman was charged with making terroristic threats after saying he wanted to go on a shooting spree, police said.
Cheickna Kagnassy, 21, of Columbia, Maryland, was arrested Wednesday evening at his apartment in Vandalia Hall, said WVU Police Deputy Chief Phil Scott. No weapons were found at Kagnassy’s residence.
WVU was contacted by Facebook on Wednesday with screen shots of a conversation involving Kagnassy on April 6, 2019, in which he posted “I legit feel like going on a shooting spree” and “Don’t worry dawg I’ll slot likely be dead before I go on a shooting spree,” according to a criminal complaint.
An independent source verified the messages came from Kagnassy’s phone, the complaint states.
Following his arrest, Kagnassy was taken to North Central Regional Jail with bond was set at $75,000. As of Thursday afternoon, he is not listed as an inmate on the jail’s website.
Chief W.P. Chedester said the incident proves the system works the way it should.
“Someone saw something and said something,” he said. “We investigated and found sufficient reason to take action, all within less than 24 hours.”
WVU has pushed its something say something message to create additional awareness about statements such as the ones Kagnassy allegedly made, Scott said. Threats are always taken seriously, he said.
Kagnassy is the second student this academic year to be charged with terroristic threats. Zachary Johnson, a former WVU student, allegedly said he wanted to commit a mass shooting while in class at the Health Sciences Center in August 2018. His case is still pending.
As a condition of bond, Kagnassy is not allowed on WVU property. Scott said Kagnassy was told someone would have to retrieve his belonging from Vandalia Hall.
Kagnassy was arrested one day after a campus shooting at University of North Carolina Charlotte left two dead and four wounded.
As of Thursday, there have been 105 mass shootings in 2019, according to Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit that collects and verifies gun violence incidents in the U.S.
