Buffalo man arrested for allegedly tweeting threats to kill Black people at Buffalo grocery stores

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WGRZ/WHEC) — A Buffalo man has been arrested for allegedly tweeting threats to kill Black people at Buffalo grocery stores.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York announced on Thursday that Rolik Walker, 24, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with making an interstate threat.

If Walker is found guilty, the charge has a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The attorney handling the case said that according to a criminal complaint, Walker allegedly created the Twitter account "@ConklinHero" that then was used to "post that he and his ‘associates’ were targeting several grocery stores in the Buffalo area and were ‘only looking to kill Blacks.’"

The accused Tops shooter is from Conklin. The Twitter account was allegedly created two days after the shooting.

Walker allegedly attempted to make the posts anonymous by using an app on his phone to mask his IP address.