By Alexander Ramirez
WOODLAND, CA – Jonathan Dmitri Liggans was in Yolo County Superior Court late last week, accused of terroristic threats after he allegedly threatened city of Davis police officers on a Facebook live stream earlier this month, promising to “shoot the next police officer that comes out” of the police station.
Liggans was seen in the Davis Police Department parking lot when he said this. His statements interrupted the normal flow of officers leaving and arriving because of fear for their safety.
During the stream Liggans said he was feeling suicidal, and questioned whether or not pulling a gun on a police officer would count as “suicide by cop.” Law enforcement was notified of this stream and continued to monitor it.
Facebook was then able to pinpoint Liggans’ coordinates and his address, but there was no evidence of Liggans previously threatening to kill anyone. The Davis Police Department was able to track Liggans down after he was caught driving around the Davis Police Department parking lot.
Liggans purportedly continued, “First cop comes out; I’m shooting him,” and “First cop comes out; I’m shooting this motherf*****.” He continued to repeat, “first one,” while he drove in the roundabout outside the police station.
Even though he knew he was on camera, he allegedly continued to say, “I need to find a way to get back there,” as he passed a gate of the police station. He ended the stream after this statement and his Facebook account was deleted after the stream was taken down.
Liggans drove off before actually going through with what he said he would do. Liggans had previous contact with the Davis Police Department for criminal threats in October of 2020, but no previous criminal record. There was also no firearm seen in the live stream or any firearm registered under Liggans’ name.
While his defense counsel asked that bail should be set at $20,000, the prosecution argued that “given the light of what’s happening to police officers all over California, as well as the rest of the United States, and them being ambushed, this was actually a very fearful incident for them.”
Judge Samuel T. McAdam said that if there was more certainty that Liggans would follow mental health guidance, then it was possible that a release with some components could be structured.
Instead, bail, set at $200,000 originally, was decreased to $100,000 by Judge McAdam after reading the supervised own recognizance report and the details of the case.
A pre-hearing conference was scheduled on July 2 for Liggans.
Alexander Ramirez is a third-year Political Science major at the University of California, Davis. He hopes to hone his writing skills in preparation for the inevitable time of graduation.
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