A man in Utah has reportedly been arrested on suspicion of threats of violence and obstruction of justice after he allegedly made threats on social media concerning this upcoming weekend’s college football rivalry game between No. 14 BYU and No. 22 Utah.
The arrest comes three days before the Cougars and Utes meet at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah in one of five top 25 matchups in Week 8. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, the man in custody is 28 years old and is being held Emery County Jail.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported that the man in custody tweeted out several alarming posts on X (formerly Twitter), which were brought to the attention of local law enforcement. One post included a reply to a user on X of ‘anyone wearing red on Saturday is getting shot.’ Another post wrote, ‘come to [LaVell Edwards Stadium] and enjoy a bullet in your head. Bring your… kids too.’
The former of the two posts was prefaced by a post from the same person, who wrote, ‘I’ll be in LES (LaVell Edwards Stadium) Saturday. Any Ute fan I see is dead. Mark my words,’ according to KUTV, a CBS affiliate in Salt Lake City.
Utah and BYU are set to face each other at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 18 for the 103rd time in history, and the second time as members of the Big 12 Conference.
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.