In a dramatic turn of events, law enforcement in Florida has taken swift action by arresting a man for making violent threats against President Donald Trump online. The suspect, identified as Shannon Depararro Atkins, 46, was apprehended during a routine traffic stop in West Palm Beach on Friday. Authorities discovered that Atkins was carrying three small baggies of cocaine at the time of the stop, further compounding his legal troubles.

According to reports from the New York Post, police had been monitoring Atkins following tips regarding his inflammatory posts on social media. The posts, made in the days leading up to President Trump’s inauguration on January 20, included disturbing messages that many interpreted as inciting violence. One post on Facebook ominously read, “America needs one good bullet to be saved,” while Atkins also expressed hope that someone would kill the president—a statement that led to his ban on X (formerly Twitter).

Atkins’s online activity escalated quickly. In another post, he pleaded, “Bullets please. Please Jesus! Save America,” accompanied by a meme labeling inauguration day as a “day of mourning.” Later that day, he shared an image of Trump alongside Ivanka Trump with an offhand comment wishing for a reunion between them. When questioned by police, Atkins admitted to making the posts but claimed that he intended them as “jokes.”

However, West Palm Beach Police Chief Tony Araujo was quick to dismiss any notion that such statements could be taken lightly. “This is not a joke. Nothing of that sort is a joke,” Araujo declared in a press briefing. “In today’s climate, you really can’t say things like this. We have incident after incident, example after example, of when these threats become real. And we take these very seriously.”