ATLANTA ( Associated Press) – Georgia officials have arrested an 18-year-old who they say threatened to kill a sheriff and his wife over the arrests of rappers Young Thug and Gunna and others.
Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labatt, reportedly the target of the threats, announced the arrest on Friday. Quartvius Mender was indicted last week on 23 counts of making terroristic threats to the Fulton County Jail, records show. He is being held without bail. It is unclear whether Mender has an attorney to speak to.
Local news outlets report Mender threatened to kill Labatt, his wife Jackie and the Atlanta School District police chief, whose legal name is Jeffrey Williams, on various social media pages if Young Thug is not released.
According to the arrest warrant reviewed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “#freethug or Imma sh00t u and your wife,” Mender wrote. He reportedly wrote a second time on the sheriff’s Instagram page hours later, “Imma kills you.”
Tenquerius Mender is among the 28 accused in the racketeering charge. It was not immediately clear on Friday whether she and Quartavius ​​Mender are related.
“We take such brazen threats seriously,” Labatt said in a statement. “Social media cyberbullying, and hiding behind a keyboard, will not save anyone from criminal prosecution.”
Authorities alleging that Young Thug leads the Young Slime Life gang, he and 27 others have been arrested in a massive indictment brought under Georgia’s state racketeering law. It charges gang members involved in murder, shootings, carjacking and other crimes.
Young Thug was denied bond on Thursday after a Fulton County judge expressed “significant concern” about letting him go home while under house arrest.
Prosecutors said they plan to plead some of the defendants in exchange for testimony, but said some witnesses are already being threatened.
“Our witnesses in this case are being threatened with violence, serious violence and death,” said Fulton County Prosecutor Don Gerry.
Young Thug’s lawyers strongly deny that he participated in any crime.
