Twitter threats to Black Kean students made by Black alum/activist, police say

A recent Kean graduate has been charged with being responsible for a series of tweets threatening black students at the school two weeks ago, acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park announced Tuesday.

Kayla-Simone McKelvey, 24, of Union was charged by summons with third-degree creating a false public alarm.

Park said an investigation by the Union County Prosecutor's Office's Special Prosecutions Unit and Kean University police found that McKelvey, a self-proclaimed activist, participated in a student rally regarding racial issues on Nov. 17, but left midway through the rally and walked to a computer station in a university library.

Once there, McKelvey allegedly created an anonymous Twitter account – @keanuagainstblk – and began posting threats of violence against black Kean students.

The first message around 10 p.m. said "kean university twitter against blacks is for everyone who hates blacks people" and a tweet about there being a bomb on the campus, and then continued with several other tweets about shooting black students at the university.


After making the posts, McKelvey immediately returned to the rally and attempted to spread awareness of the threats she allegedly had just fabricated, authorities said.

The university said approximately 100 students participated in a peaceful rally on campus that night with 10 students spending the night at the clock tower, "joining students across the nation to raise awareness of recent racial unrest at the University of Missouri and other college campuses."

That night on McKelvey's personal Twitter account she posted photos of the rally and screenshots of the tweets.