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Black Student On Tether After Threatening To 'Shoot Every Black Person' On Campus

SAGINAW, Mich. (WWJ/AP) - A black community college student has been sentenced to five years' probation after he posted a threat to shoot black people on campus.

The Saginaw News reports that a judge on Thursday also ordered 21-year-old Emmanuel Bowden to wear an electronic tether for a year.

Bowden, a Delta College student living on Saginaw Valley State University's campus, wrote on the social media app Yik Yak: "I'm going to shoot every black person I can on campus. Starting tomorrow morning."

The threat, posted in November, was only online for about 30 minutes before Bowden deleted it.

Bowden told police it was posted as a joke; and, according to his attorney, Kenneth Wright, "Everybody believes it was not his intent to follow through."

Bowden pleaded guilty in February and was charged with making a false threat of terrorism.

Why did he do it?

"I wish I could tell you," Bowden told Saginaw County Circuit Judge James T. Borchard.

Bowden said he was not drinking or under the influence of drugs on the night he posted the message. He chalked up his lapse in judgment to a "long week of studying and homework."

TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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