A 36-year-old West Palm Beach man is behind bars without bond after Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office detectives say he threatened to open fire on law enforcement officers in a Facebook comment reacting to a viral video. Travis Hill was arrested on counts of making a written threat to conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism, a second-degree felony under Florida law.
According to CBS12, PBSO intelligence detectives began investigating alarming comments on a viral social media video on September 2. The video, originally posted to Instagram before circulating widely on Facebook, depicted PBSO deputies and Boynton Beach Police Department officers allegedly using non-lethal force on a crowd leaving a gang-related funeral.
Hill allegedly reacted to that video under the Facebook alias Trill Murk, writing on September 1: “I'll open [fire emoji] at dem b*tch ass cr**kas fa dat shit dea.” Investigators determined the phrasing constituted a direct, targeted threat to open fire on identified law enforcement officers, the outlet's report states.
Tracing an Anonymous Account Back to a Facility
To identify who was behind the Trill Murk account, investigators traced IP addresses, device history, and phone numbers tied to the profile. Detectives served emergency disclosure requests to Meta, AT&T, and Verizon, a legal mechanism that allows technology and telecom companies to hand over subscriber records, IP addresses, and location logs to police without a court order when there's an imminent threat to public safety, per the federal Stored Communications Act.
That digital trail led investigators to a West Palm Beach address, where the account's phone number and Wi-Fi access matched a facility where Hill had been temporarily housed. The site director at the facility confirmed Hill had access to the device and network at the time the comment was published. Hill was released from prison in July 2026, and he currently resides with his mother in West Palm Beach.
A Lengthy Criminal History
Court records cited in the report show Hill has a prior criminal history that includes aggravated stalking, aggravated battery, felon in possession of a firearm, and battery on a law enforcement officer. He also served a 15-month prison sentence for burglary and had juvenile arrests for attempted first-degree murder.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office arrested Hill, who is now held at the Palm Beach County Jail without bond.
How Florida's Written-Threat Law Applies
Florida Statute § 836.10 makes it a second-degree felony to issue a written or electronic threat to conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism, carrying penalties of up to 15 years in state prison, up to 15 years of probation, and a fine of up to $10,000, according to Online Sunshine, the state's official statute repository. Sentencing under Florida's Criminal Punishment Code can depend on a defendant's criminal history.
Florida amended it in October 2021 to eliminate the requirement that a threat be communicated directly to its target, according to the Florida Legislature. Florida law also addresses written threats.
Federal constitutional law adds another layer in online “true threat” cases.
Part of a Broader Pattern in Palm Beach County
Hill's arrest follows a string of similar cases across the county this year. In May, PBSO arrested 36-year-old West Palm Beach resident Jesus Thomas Max Horne under the same statute after Meta flagged an Instagram video in which a masked driver threatened to shoot up homes and the Palm Beach County courthouse, as Hoodline previously reported. That same month, West Palm Beach police arrested 39-year-old Jeffrey Jay Pratt after emergency communications staff received multiple text-to-911 messages threatening violence against people downtown and at Mar-a-Lago.
Sentencing outcomes elsewhere in the state show how seriously courts have treated these cases. In July, a Volusia County circuit judge sentenced Michael Maguire to 12 years in state prison followed by eight years of probation after he pleaded no contest to charges for posting violent online threats targeting journalists. And in March 2024, PBSO deputies arrested 28-year-old Lake Worth mother Paola Zarate Lassalle on written-threat charges after she allegedly posted violent threats on TikTok directed at an 11-year-old classmate of her daughter, underscoring how broadly the statute has been applied across different platforms and targets in the county.
