Police in Victoria are investigating disturbing comments made on Facebook threatening an attack on the city’s new mosque with a rocket launcher.
On a Facebook page called “I Love Downtown Victoria” a poster identifying himself as Dan Speed wrote, “that’s not good” in reference to the Muslim place of worship.
“Blast it with an 84mm Carl Gustaf,” he added in a subsequent post.
A Carl Gustaf is a high-powered anti-tank gun capable of serious damage.
The comments are now gone as is the poster’s profile
Before the profile disappeared, Dan Speed identified himself as former military and as currently working in security for the Canadian Coast Guard.
The local Muslim community is concerned over the comments.
“It is a little bit scary to see someone that has military training say something like that,” said Azhar Omarjee of the B.C. Association of Muslims Victoria.
Victoria police are in the early stages of an investigation.
“We don’t know what form that investigation is going to take, but they’re looking into all aspects of it right now,” Const. Mike Russell said.
“They’ll be looking into the history of this gentleman. They’ll be looking into all the different facets surrounding the posting as well.”
The Canadian Coast Guard said no one named Dan Speed works for the organization. But CTV News has learned Speed does work at the Victoria coast guard base as a commissionaire, a company many agencies contract with for security services.
Meanwhile, as the Victoria community celebrates Ramadan it is inviting the Facebook poster to lean more about the religion and the people who follow it.
“I think in general that we should be more tolerant of one another and I’m sure if he got to know us personally, I don’t think there should be any problems,” Omarjee said.
Russell added the police are taking the comments seriously.
“Anytime something like this comes to light, with the state of things that have happened in the States and that, we're certainly going to pay attention to this,” he said.
Earlier this month, an army veteran opened fire inside a Sikh temple in Wisconsin and killed six people.
In July, a gunman killed 12 people and injured dozed more at a Colorado movie theatre showing the “The Dark Knight Rises” A North Vancouver man, who allegedly made threats online to copy that shooting, now faces charges.
Cyber threats and bullying aren’t new, and posters are increasingly finding themselves in trouble with the law.
Defence lawyer Michael Bolton says menacing comments on the web represent new territory for the courts.
“I think the criminal code has never got developed to deal with social media,” he said.
No one faces charges in connection to the threatening postings against the Victoria mosque.
With a report from CTV British Columbia’s Stephen Andrew and Bhinder Sajan