MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 50-year-old Maple Grove man is accused of threatening to blow up two Twin Cities high schools by posting a cartoon on the social media site Facebook, according to charges filed Wednesday in Hennepin County Court.
Robert Christopher Baker was charged with one felony count of terroristic threats in connection with the incident, which happened Monday.
According to the charges, Maple Grove Police received a report on Monday from a concerned parent about threats to blow up the Maple Grove and Osseo High Schools. When authorities spoke with the reporting party, he told police his daughter informed him that she saw a suspicious post on Facebook from Baker.
The complaint states Baker, a former teacher, posted a cartoon character who was holding what appeared to be a rocket launcher. It included the statement “First we’ll blow up Osseo Senior, then we’ll blow up Maple Grove senior.”
Officers located Baker, who admitted to posting the cartoon and the message about the two schools on Facebook and did so on his account from his Maple Grove home. He told police he was expressing his anger after being fired from the school district in January. He told police he didn’t want to blow up the schools when students were there, the complaint states.
Baker has been previously banned from all school district property after making offensive and obscene statements about district employees and students. That included threats against staff and their children, according to the complaint.
Baker is currently in custody and faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
