A South Florida dessert chef threatened President Trump's life on Facebook, cops say
A West Palm Beach caterer and dessert chef sits in Palm Beach County Main Detention Center after his Friday night arrest over social media posts the FBI and local police said count as threats to kill President Donald Trump.
West Palm Beach police also claim they found cocaine in the car with 46-year-old Shannon Atkins during the arrest.
Atkins is charged with written or electronic threats to kill or do bodily injury; possession of cocaine; and introducing a controlled substance in a county detention facility. Online court records say his bond is $10,000 for the latter two charges. But, the Palm Beach State Attorney's Office has made a motion for Atkins to remain under pretrial detention, which Judge Daliah Weiss granted Saturday pending a pretrial detention hearing.
There might also be federal charges.
READ MORE: Trump targets Biden-era migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti for deportation
According to Facebook screenshots released by West Palm Beach police, Atkins made the following posts:
▪ On Jan. 14, he put 'Unfortunately, one is still alive' over a social media post that had pictures of Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ronald Reagan and President Trump with, 'All stood up to Democrats. All were shot.'
▪ On Jan. 19, at 9:59 a.m., he put 'Bullets please. Please Jesus. Save America!' over a post mourning Trump's inauguration the following day.
▪ At 11:04 a.m. the same day, he posted 'I've been banned from X because I said I hope and pray someone kills him. History is suppsoed [Sic] to repeat itself. We haven't had an assassination in years' followed by a emojis of eye rolling; laughing into tears; wide-eyes; and a shrug.
On his Big Mama's House of Sweets Instagram account, Atkins says he graduated from Johnson & Wales' College of Culintary Arts and notes his 2016 win in the Flavors of Wellington for Best of Taste. Atkins ran Big Mama's House of Sweets from 2016 through 2020 and, now, state records say, runs Big Mama's House of Sweets, Catering & More out of his home.
It was near that home that West Palm cops say they stopped Atkins Friday night around 7:30 p.m. He's been under investigation by the agency since Monday, after an Okeechobee reported Atkins posts to the FBI National Threat Operations Center.
'During the interview with detectives, Atkins admitted making the posts,' West Palm Police said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
24 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
ICE expands immigration raids into California's agricultural heartland
Alarm spread through California agricultural centers Tuesday as panicked workers reported that federal immigration authorities — who had largely refrained from major enforcement action in farming communities in the first months of the Trump administration — were showing up at farm fields and packing houses from the Central Coast to the San Joaquin Valley. 'Today we are seeing an uptick in the chaotic presence of immigration enforcement, particularly the Border Patrol,' said Elizabeth Strater, vice president of the United Farm Workers. 'We're seeing it in multiple areas.' Department of Homeland Security officials declined to confirm specific locations, but said enforcement actions were taking place across the southern area of state. Advocates from numerous immigrant advocacy groups said their phones were lighting up with calls, videos and texts from multiple counties. The Times reviewed a video that showed a worker running through a field under the cover of early morning fog, with at least one agent in pursuit on foot and a Border Patrol truck racing along an adjacent dirt road. Eventually, the worker was caught. In Tulare County, near the community of Richgrove, immigration agents emerged near a field where farm laborers were picking blueberries, causing some workers to flee. In Oxnard in Ventura County, organizers responded to multiple calls of federal immigration authorities staging near fields and entering a packing house at Boskovich Farms. Hazel Davalos of the group Cause, said there were reports of ICE agents trying to access nine farms in Oxnard, but that in many cases, they were denied entry. In Fresno County, workers reported federal agents, some in Border Patrol trucks, in the fields near Kingsburg. Strater said she did not yet have information about the number of people detained in the raids, but said the fear among workers was pervasive. At least half of the estimated 255,700 farmworkers in California are undocumented, according to UC Merced research. 'These are people who are going to be afraid to take their kids to school, afraid to go to graduation, afraid to go to the grocery store,' Strater said. 'The harm is going to be done.' The expansion into rural communities follows days of coordinated raids in urban areas of Los Angeles County, where authorities have targeted home improvement stores, restaurants and garment manufacturers. The enforcement action has prompted waves of protest, and the Trump administration has responded by sending in hundreds of Marines and National Guard troops. Two Democratic members of Congress who represent the Ventura area, Reps. Julia Brownley and Salud Carbajal, released a statement condemning the raids around Oxnard. ''We have received disturbing reports of ICE enforcement actions in Ventura County, including in Oxnard, Port Hueneme, and Camarillo, where agents have reportedly stopped vehicles, loitered near schools, and attempted to enter agricultural properties and facilities in the Oxnard Plain,' they said. 'These actions are completely unjustified, deeply harmful, and raise serious questions about the agency's tactics and its respect for due process.' They added that 'these raids are not about public safety. They are about stoking fear. These are not criminals being targeted. They are hardworking people and families who are an essential part of Ventura County. Our local economy, like much of California's and the country's as a whole, depends on undocumented labor. These men and women are the backbone of our farms, our fields, our construction and service industries, and our communities.' Farmworker advocates noted that Tuesday's raids came despite a judicial ruling stemming from a rogue Border Patrol action in Kern County earlier this year. ACLU attorneys representing the United Farm Workers and five Kern County residents sued the head of the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Border Patrol officials, alleging the Border Patrol's three-day raid in the southern San Joaquin Valley in early January amounted to a 'fishing expedition' that indiscriminately targeted people of color who appeared to be farmworkers or day laborers. Judge Jennifer Thurston of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California said in an 88-page ruling that evidence presented by the ACLU lawyers established 'a pattern and practice' at the Border Patrol of violating people's constitutional rights when detaining people without reasonable suspicion, and then violating federal law by executing warrantless arrests without determining flight risk. Thurston's ruling required the Border Patrol to submit detailed documentation of any stops or warrantless arrests in the Central Valley and show clear guidance and training for agents on the law.
CBS News
26 minutes ago
- CBS News
Multiple people detained at anti-ICE protest in Philadelphia
Multiple protesters were detained Tuesday as dozens of people gathered in Center City to rally against the Trump administration's Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Philadelphia. Dozens of people gathered at 4 p.m. to protest ICE at the Federal Detention Center at 7th and Arch streets. Chopper 3 was over the scene and caught protesters blocking traffic, causing gridlock in the area. The protesters chanted and held signs up and down Center City streets against ICE enforcement. CBS News Philadelphia Protests against ICE raids have popped up all over the United States following the protests in Los Angeles that started last Friday and prompted President Trump to mobilize the National Guard and Marines. This is a developing story and will be updated.
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Topeka strip club owner indicted for machine gun possession
TOPEKA (KSNT) – New information is coming to light Tuesday following a raid by local and federal law enforcement at a Topeka strip club last week. The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in a press release on June 10 that a federal grand jury based out of Wichita returned an indictment charging Leonard Rrapaj, 61, of Topeka with illegal possession of a machine gun conversion device. Federal law enforcement with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) investigated this case. 29-year-old Topeka man identified as homicide victim Shawnee County court documents from 2024 and a 2025 report from the Kansas Secretary of State (SOS) from 2024 listed Rrapaj as the owner of the Topeka Sports Cabaret, a strip club, which was raided by federal and local law enforcement on June 6. Law enforcement released few details following the raid, only confirming the presence of FBI agents at the club, which is located at 4216 Northeast Seward Avenue near the Oakland neighborhood. Rrapaj faces possible imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine of up to $250,000 for the federal charge, according to court documents with the District of Kansas. Driver caught speeding 114 miles per hour in Topeka, fined nearly $1,000 For more crime news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
