Man arrested for threatening U. of C. must tell potential schools about charge

A South Side Chicago man accused of threatening to shoot several people at the University of Chicago must tell any school he applies to about his pending criminal case, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Jabari Dean, 21, allegedly posted on a hip-hop website a threat that he would shoot 16 white students or staff members at the University of Chicago, a threat that shut down its Hyde Park campus in late November. The statement was related to the shooting death of Laquan McDonald, a black teen who was shot 16 times by a white Chicago police officer now charged with McDonald’s murder.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan E. Cox ordered Dean released into his mother’s custody last month. At the request of prosecutors and pre-trial services personnel, Cox added Tuesday the requirement that Dean tell any school he applies to about the charge he now faces, which carries a maximum five-year prison sentence.

Dean was a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago at the time of his arrest. However, neither his attorney nor UIC officials would immediately comment Tuesday on his status with the school. Dean’s attorney, Damon Cheronis, told Cox his client “wants to get back on track and go to school,” and plans on submitting applications in the next couple of months.

Dean has admitted he posted a threat on the website worldstarhiphop.com to “execute” 16 white students or staff members at the University of Chicago — one for each bullet that hit McDonald, authorities said. Dean quickly deleted the post, but someone sent a screenshot to the FBI. The words are contained in the criminal complaint filed against Dean:

“This is my only warning. At 10 a.m. on Monday mourning (sic) I am going to the campus quad of the University of Chicago. I will be armed with a M-4 Carbine and 2 Desert Eagles all fully loaded. I will execute aproximately (sic) 16 white male students and or staff, which is the same number of time (sic) Mcdonald (sic) was killed. I then will die killing any number of white policemen that I can in the process. This is not a joke. I am to do my part to rid the world of the white devils. I expect you to do the same ….”

In a search of his residence, though, no guns were found, and authorities said Dean did not appear to have the means to carry out the threat.