John Jefferson
Inset: Shaelynn Renoblas (Allen County Sheriff’s Department via WPTA). Background: Manchester University in Indiana (Google Maps).
An Indiana college student is accused of sending threatening texts with gun emojis to fellow students before telling cops she has “a dark sense of humor and didn’t mean anything by it.”
Shaelynn Renoblas, 23, faces two felony counts of intimidation, online court records show.
The probable cause affidavit spells out the case that stemmed from alleged threats that started on Nov. 6 and culminated with the defendant’s arrest on Friday after Manchester University’s director of university safety told police that she’d been getting emails from students fearing for their safety to return to school.
The caller told police she had texts in which Renoblas, who is a student at the university, was allegedly making gun threats to possibly shoot people on campus. The texts were allegedly sent to students and contained gun emojis. The defendant also texted other students about wanting to hurt them, court documents said. The caller showed the officer screenshots of texts taken from a group chat and time-stamped on Nov. 6 at 7:01 p.m.
One of the messages said, “ima air this b—- out,” followed by several gun emojis, the affidavit said.
The caller also shared emails that students sent reacting to the alleged threats, the document said.
“Hi Professors, My cohort does not feel it is safe to return to campus next week with no safeguards to prevent someone from entering and fulfilling their promise to kill all of us,” one email dated Nov. 8 at 2:36 p.m. read, in part. “We are deeply concerned with the events that have played out, including her promise to kill us all on three separate occasions. Her physically pointing to us and acting like she was shooting us has terrified many and has been the reason many have been afraid to speak out more about her actions and words. Imagine feeling threatened that if you talk you will be killed, it’s unimaginable to most. We will not return to a non-secure campus next week because of our fear of getting killed. We all also want to express our very deep concern for all of you, as well as the remaining students and faculty that could be on campus.”
In a call with police, the person who wrote the email said the defendant made several threats, with the first one in class in front of all the students, the affidavit said.
At the time Renoblas made a “gun” hand gesture to all the students and stated, “I’m going to air this b—- out” when she was being escorted out of class on Nov. 6, the witness said.
The witness told police Renoblas called him on FaceTime that day, making the same comment to him and making the same threat in a text message to other people in the class. He described her as “‘manic,” court documents said.
When police spoke with Renoblas, they informed her they had the screenshots she sent to other students. Post-Miranda, the defendant told the officer she has “a dark sense of humor and didn’t mean anything by it,” court documents said.
“Shaelynn told me she would never hurt anyone,” court documents said.
The officer told her she couldn’t make jokes about this and had her write an apology letter to the school.
“I’m sorry about the comments I made that made the students and faculty of the school feel unsafe. It was never my intention to scare or hurt anybody at all. I’m really sorry,” the letter stated, according to the affidavit.
In a statement emailed to Law&Crime, Manchester University spokesperson, Jennifer Barscz said, “We are unable to comment on allegations of individual student misconduct; however, we are working closely with law enforcement to ensure the safety and security of our community. The safety of our students, faculty, and staff is our top priority, and we have enacted all necessary protocols to address the situation.”
Renoblas is free on $2,500 bond. She was expected to have her initial court hearing on Wednesday.
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