A Florida man was accused of spraying contents from a bottle labeled COVID-19 around the door of an unidentified business on Sunday afternoon, Jacksonville Sheriff's officials said.
David Randolph White, 50, was arrested on a charge of attempted or threatened use of a weapon or hoax weapon of mass destruction. He remained in the Duval County Jail on Monday morning.
The sheriff's office said in a Facebook post that officers were called to the unidentified business to investigate a report of “intentional COVID-19 contamination.”
Witnesses told investigators that the man sprayed the substance on and around the doors, the post said.
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“The suspect reportedly made statements to the employees and patrons in the area that they were now infected with COVID-19,” police said in the report.
The Sheriff’s Office’s Intelligence Unit and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force quickly identified White as a possible suspect and he was questioned and arrested, police said.
The business was cleaned and sanitized, police said.
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Jail records did not list a lawyer for White.
