ROYAL Oak, Mich. – Local 4 has obtained Snapchat video of a man threatening police, fire and emergency medical services in Royal Oak. He thought the video and his threats would disappear, but police found the video and him.
“Watch the news, watch the news, y’all! I’m about to blow, I’m about to shoot at the police y’all, I am about to shoot at them. Roll the window down, roll the window down!” the man can be heard saying in the Snapchat video.
While police, fire and EMS were working a crash scene on Greenfield and Normandy, prosecutors say 29-year-old Martin Gissental had a driver circle the first responders while threatening to shoot them – posting the threats on Snapchat.
“For real. They think I am playing? Circle the corner, circle the corner,” Gissental said in the video.
The threats were made March 16. Police were alerted of the threats. Snapchat videos disappear – but we’re told Royal Oak police investigators took months tracking the video down, and identifying Gissental as the man flashing the gun that is not registered to him.
Gissental was arrested Friday and charged this weekend with the following:
- Making a false terroristic threat
- Carrying a concealed weapon
Police nationwide say they are watching social media and take any threat made against them seriously. Gissental is being held Sunday night on a $25,000 bond.
This case is nearly identical to a case in Chicago earlier this year in which a man was charged with threatening to kill a police public official on a Facebook live feed.