A South Florida drag queen who is friends with acquitted murder suspect Casey Anthony has been arrested for making violent threats against President Donald Trump.
Shannon Depararro Atkins, 46, who is also known as Big Momma, was taken into custody Friday night after local authorities were alerted to a series of Facebook posts he made the day before Trump took office, according to the New York Post.
Police said Atkins, a Palm Beach bakery owner, said something to the effect of: ‘Lincoln, JFK, Reagan, Martin Luther King and Trump. Unfortunately one is still alive,’ CBS News reports.
He also allegedly posted that ‘America needs one good bullet to be saved,’ and complained that he was banned from X two hours later.
‘I’ve been banned from “X” because I said I hope and pray someone kills him,’ Atkins wrote, presumably about the president.
‘History is supposed to repeat itself. We haven’t had an assassination in years.’
Later in the day, Atkins allegedly shared a meme calling Trump’s inauguration day a ‘day of mourning.’
He is said to have commented on the post, ‘Bullets please. Please. Jesus! Save America.’
Shannon Depararro Atkins, 46, who is also known as Big Momma, was taken into custody Friday night after local authorities were alerted to a series of Facebook posts he made the day before President Donald Trump took office
He allegedly pleaded on social media for ‘bullets’ at Trump’s inauguration
Police watched Atkins after being alerted about the posts.Â
They finally apprehended in a traffic stop him near his home in West Palm Beach just before 7.30pm on Friday, according to Local 10 News.
He was also found with three baggies of cocaine in his pocket.
Atkins now faces second-degree felony charge of written or electronic threats to kill, do bodily injury or conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism, as well as felony cocaine possession.
He allegedly admitted to making the posts, but claimed he was simply ‘joking.’
‘Folks, this was not a joke,’ Police Chief Tony Araujo said at a news conference Saturday, according to the Palm Beach Daily News.Â
‘In today’s climate, you really can’t say things like this.’
The chief went on to encourage residents to report any potentially threatening posts to the FBI, Crime Stoppers or West Palm Beach Police.
Atkins is known around the community as the owner of Big Mama’s House of Sweets, a bakery that specializes in cheesecakes
Among the posts Atkins allegedly made on January 19 were one with photos of Lincoln, JFK, Reagan, Martin Luther King and Trump, in which he wrote: ‘Unfortunately one is still alive’
‘Let us decide whether the information is actionable,’ he urged. ‘We will determine whether there is reasonableness to further investigate.
‘In this instance, there was,’ the police chief continued. ‘Our detectives developed probable cause, and we made an arrest.
‘It takes all of us to keep our community safe and in this instance, this system worked.’
Atkins is good friends with acquitted murder suspect Casey Anthony
Atkins is known around the community as the owner of Big Mama’s House of Sweets, a bakery that specializes in cheesecakes.
To bolster his business, Atkins adopted the drag persona Big Momma, and has since appeared at brunches and other events in the Palm Beach area.
He is also good friends with Casey Anthony, an unidentified source told the Post.
‘She always said that he was really funny and she liked to hang around him because he made her laugh so much,’ the source said.
‘She doesn’t like Trump either, but I don’t think their friendship is based on that, I think they just have similar senses of humor.’
Anthony – who was accused of murdering her two-year-old daughter, Caylee, in 2008 – will now stand beside Atkins as he faces charges, the friend said.
‘She is very loyal,’ the source explained. ‘It’ll take more than an arrest for her to turn her back on him.
‘She’s going to remain close to him.’Â
