Man rejected on Grindr threatens to ‘wipe out’ gay community in Tampa
Ralph Perkins is accused of making threats to commit a mass shooting
A 50-year-old Florida man frustrated from rejections he received on Grindr has been arrested after allegedly threatening to attack the LGBTQ community in Tampa and then kill himself.
Ralph Perkins, 50, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with making a written threat to conduct a mass shooting.
Perkins made the threats earlier this week after his offer for an unidentified person to move in with him was rejected, according to the arrest report.
Tampa police claim Perkins sent the following message from his phone: “I like to take a gun I like to wipe the whole gay community out in Tampa and then kill myself,” and “That’s going to be my ultimate present to Tampa, Florida, is the annihilator (sic) the gay community before I kill myself.”
“Perkins did not have any known immediate access to firearms and no weapons were confiscated during the arrest,” Eddy Durkin, a spokesperson for the Tampa police said in an email to the Tampa Bay Times, which first reported on the arrest.
Perkins told a witness that he was depressed and has been suffering from stomach cancer.
Perkins has previously been arrested for failing to properly register as a sex offender — stemming from a 2004 arrest in Alabama — and for giving false information to law enforcement.
Perkins appeared in court for a preliminary hearing on Thursday before 13th Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Thomas, according to court records.
Thomas found probable cause that Perkins threatened to commit a mass shooting.
He has been assigned a public defender and is currently being held without bail at the Hillsborough County jail.
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