A Florida man was arrested this week for threatening to shoot up a Publix grocery store after he said not enough people were wearing masks while grocery shopping.
Police say Robert Kovner, 62, was arrested and booked Tuesday night for making the threat on Facebook. According to the Highland Sheriff’s Office, Kovner “was upset that not enough people, in his opinion, are wearing masks when they are out and about.” He was charged with a felony for threatening a mass shooting and is being held in the county jail under a $30,000 bond.
"We realize these are stressful times, but there is no excuse for making threats like this. It’s not a joke. It’s not just a bad day. It’s a crime. We will ALWAYS take them seriously and you will go to jail," the Highland County Sheriff's Office wrote on Facebook.
While it might sound a little insane – probably because it is – Kovner’s not the first to threaten or even engage in violence over a perceived lack of “social distancing” or health measures. In Kentucky, an anesthesiologist was arrested after physically assaulting and strangling a teenage girl after deciding she and her friends weren’t “socially distancing” enough.
Earlier this month, an elderly patient with dementia who was being treated for a blocked bowel at a Brooklyn, NY hospital was walking down a hallway when she began to fall and reached out to grab another patient’s IV pole for balance. The patient, a 32-year-old woman, became furious that the elderly woman wasn’t staying six feet away and shoved her, causing the woman to hit her head. The 86-year-old woman died just three hours later.