An Instagram account linked to a man who University of Richmond and Henrico County police are searching for contains droves of distressing posts including a picture with gun crosshairs targeting the heads of attendees at a Robins School of Business event.
Photo taken at Robins Business School event with targets placed on the heads of attendees. Photo taken from Scales Jr's Instagram profile "usaproject2025".
In an email from the UR Police Department on Monday night, Police Chief Dave McCoy wrote that campus police and Henrico County police were searching for Antonio Scales Jr. in relation to an “incident” that happened at a Robins School of Business event on March 19.
The Instagram page, originally titled “rondell.junior,” has made over 900 posts in the last 12 days. The account includes a post with the image that URPD used to identify Scales in the email sent to campus last night. The page is also rife with content praising President Donald Trump, death threats and pornography.
Despite the account having the university's name in its bio URPD confirmed he is not an alumnus or otherwise affiliated with UR.
Many posts include pictures of the University of Richmond, including students and signs surrounding both the business school and the Carole Weinstein International Center.
The page also contains multiple death threats, with one March 13 post putting targets on the heads of attendees of a gala hosted by The Men’s Huddle, a personal growth group for men, captioned “I WANT YOU FAKE ASS PASTORS DEAD!”
Photo of Scales Sr. and two other members of the Mens Huddle at their EmpowerMENt Gala with the caption "I WANT YOU FAKE ASS PASTORS DEAD". Photo taken from Scales Jr's Instagram profile "usaproject2025".
One of the men in the photo is Scales’s father, Antonio Scales Sr., who is involved in The Men’s Huddle organization. A later post from the same day read “If my parents die I’m celebrating,” with a drop of blood emoji as the caption.
As of Tuesday, March 25, the page has been retitled to “usaproject2025” with a black-and-white seal of the CIA as its profile picture.
“The URPD is aware of the social media posts and is actively working with local jurisdictions to address this matter,” police Maj. Alfred Johnson wrote in an email to The Collegian.
Photo of Scales Sr. with another man with the caption "KILL THEM BOTH". Photo taken from Scales Jr's Instagram profile "usaproject2025".
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The situation has prompted the UR police department to increase its presence at the business school, according to McCoy.
Despite the threatening nature of some posts on the Instagram account, according to McCoy, the situation “remains an advisory,” which does not indicate an emergency or imminent threat to campus. Still, URPD instructed students to contact its emergency line if they see Scales Jr.
The Henrico County Police Department said that they could not provide any more information at this time.
According to the UR daily crime log from March 19, there was a report of vandalism to a vehicle in parking lot U5, which is adjacent to the business school. It is unclear whether this incident is related to Scales Jr.
“This situation is an active, on-going investigation,” McCoy wrote in an email to the Collegian. “Thank you to those that shared information with us after the advisory went out.”
Managing editor Andrea Padilla and multimedia editor Christina Taylor also contributed to reporting.
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