Grand jury indicts Jefferson City man on terroristic threat charge

Brian Groner
Brian Groner

The Cole County Grand Jury recently handed down several indictments, finding there was enough evidence to send cases to the circuit courts for possible trial.

Among those indicted was a Jefferson City man charged in November with making a terroristic threat.

The Cole County Prosecutor's Office filed the charge against Brian Groner, 27.

Groner reportedly applied to open an account with Bank of America via an online application Nov. 11, according to a Jefferson City Police Department probable cause statement.

The application was processed and a welcome email was sent to the email address Groner provided. Officials at the process company for the bank said they received a response from Groner, but the sender's email address was "[email protected]" instead of the initial email address he had provided on the application.

As many as 10 employees at process company saw the email, and authorities said all feared something bad might happen after seeing it.

Groner reportedly called the process company Nov. 12 using the phone number he had provided on his account application.

When questioned by authorities, Groner allegedly confirmed the information provided on the application was his, but he denied applying for an account with the bank.

Police also said Groner denied having the email address "[email protected]" or sending emails using that address.

In August, Groner was charged with another count of making a terroristic threat after allegedly posting the statement "Your Next Mass Shooter. Columbine won't have (expletive) on me" publicly on his Facebook profile.

Police reported the statement was viewed by more than 10 people via Facebook, who called police saying they feared for their and others' safety.

Groner reportedly told investigators he had made the statement with the intent for others to view it.

He also allegedly said he had studied the shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999, stating, "The Columbine shooters were lame because they only killed 12 people. I could do better and kill more than 12."

He also was said to have understood why posting the statement would instill fear and frighten a large number of people and why it was considered a terroristic threat.

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