Gang Member Threatening To Blow Up Asians Arrested, Police Clamp Down On Hate Crimes

The Lunar New Year is coming up but not all people are that fond of Asians. Despite most being confined at home, a former gang member from the Bay Area would not stop posting a threat to the Asian community and even threatened to kill Asians following a barrage of now-deleted social media posts on Instagram and Twitter.

The suspect was identified as Reginald Jackson, someone who has a lengthy criminal record. That includes cases tied to felonies, attempted robbery and weapons charges – including the possession of an AR-15 assault rifle, ABC 7 reported.

Further to the report, Jackson allegedly put up some pretty disturbing posts about Asians online. Social media partners immediately called the attention of the Oakland Police Department on the matter. The man from Berkeley was then arrested and booked at the Santa Rita Jail Monday. He is held without bail and is set to appear in court in Mar. 23.

Despite having deleted them, some unnamed people from the Asian American community were able to screen capture the post that Jackson made. All these were sent to Dion Lim of ABC 7.

These posts made it easier for police to track down Jackson. He is out on post-release community supervision until Monday.

Jackson already appeared in court which was broadcast via live stream. The judge was concerned about Jackson’s frequency of cases and set his bail at $190,000.

The gang member was unaware that Oakland police worked with the Alameda District Attorney's office at that time. He is set to appear in court again Tuesday.

"The Oakland Police Department received information from our media partners regarding an individual who had posted disturbing remarks directed at members of our Asian community,” acting Captain James Beere said. "We take those threats and all threats against all community members very seriously."