&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Who is Gabriela Saldana? Why was Florida student arrested for cracking joke about Netanyahu")
A 23-year-old student at Florida International University has been arrested after authorities interpreted messages she posted in a group chat about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a potential bomb threat.
Who is Gabriela Saldana?
Gabriela Saldana is an FIU student who allegedly made “a threat to kill or do bodily harm to individuals regarding a scheduled event on Friday, April 10, 2026, via a WhatsApp group chat,” according to an arrest report cited by NBC Miami.
Also read: Terrorist attack thwarted: Russia arrests German woman over alleged Ukraine-linked bomb plot
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Saldana was arrested on April 16 near a parking garage on FIU’s Modesto Maidique campus, according to JFeed. Campus police said the location corresponded to a parking structure at 8th Street and 109th Avenue. She was later taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Centre.
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Investigators said Saldana admitted to sending the messages in a 215-member WhatsApp group for capstone students. In one message, she allegedly wrote: “Netanyahu, if you can hear me, drop some bonbons for us Capstone students in Ocean Bank Convocation Center.” Authorities believe the term “bonbons” was used as a coded reference to bombs.
She is also accused of writing that “there is going to be a bomb in the Ocean Bank Convocation Center and it was going to be Jonathan’s fault,” referring to another student in the chat.
What did the report say?
According to the arrest report, the message “was made in a manner in which it may be viewed by another person and intended the threat to be a true threat.” The posts were made during discussions about a scheduled capstone event at the university venue, prompting other students to alert campus police.
Saldana later described the messages as a “dumb joke”, saying they were meant to express frustration and possibly force the event to be rescheduled. She also edited the post to include an apologetic note reading, “I sowwy :(”.
Despite the defence argument that the messages were not serious, Judge Mindy S. Glazer ruled that they constituted a credible threat. Bail was set at 5,000 dollars. Saldana now faces a second-degree felony charge of making written threats to kill or cause bodily harm.
