A man was arrested after allegedly threatening to kill players, fans and himself at Sunday’s divisional-round playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Jacksonville Jaguars at Heinz Field.
Yuttana Choochongkol, a 30-year-old from San Antonio, Texas, made the threats to Heinz Field and a television station in Pittsburgh, according to KSAT in San Antonio, citing an arrest affidavit.
READ MORE: Shahid Khan: NFL’s only non-white, Muslim team owner joins players in Trump protest
The affidavit said the note that KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh received on Thursday read as follows:
“This Sunday’s playoff game in Pittsburgh is going to be like no other. Why? Because it’s going to be my last day on this pathetic planet. So why not take some innocent lives with me? The Steelers game will be packed, and that’s when I plan on killing Steelers football players and fans before taking my own pitiful life. After all, what does a person that is going to commit suicide have to lose? Absolutely nothing. So why not take out some million dollar Steelers players before me? Sounds like a good idea. Hahahahahah”
The affidavit says the director of security for Heinz Field received a similar threat from Choochongkol the same day. The threat was uploaded to Heinz Field’s website with the same username and IP address as the threat KDKA-TV received. KDKA-TV and Heinz Field sent the IP address to the FBI to track the threat, which they traced back to Worldwide Clinical Trials in San Antonio.
READ MORE: Rick Zamperin says an NFL wild card team is going to win Super Bowl LII
- Canada’s most wanted list: Toronto suspect in fatal shooting at No. 1
- Gas station clerk stabbed several times during violent attack at Ultramar in Montreal
- Man acquitted in Tina Fontaine murder found dead, says her aunt
- Canadians should expect politicians to support right to bail, Virani’s office says
From there, the FBI spoke with workers at the facility and used security cameras to identify Choochongkol as the suspect. According to the affidavit, Choochongkol has been a medical trial subject with Worldwide Clinical Trials 25 times since 2011.
Choochongkol was arrested Friday night and has been charged with making a terroristic threat.
The Steelers acknowledged the threat in a statement from director of communications Burt Lauten on Sunday morning.
“The Heinz Field website received a threat concerning the playoff game vs. Jacksonville. We take all threats seriously and turned over information to the FBI and the City of Pittsburgh Police,” Lauten said. “We are thankful law enforcement was able to identify and track down the individual to make an arrest. We appreciate the hard work and attention that our law enforcement provides to our communities.”
Comments