COPS have arrested a man after he allegedly threatened to go on a mass shooting at a branch of Walmart if the hantavirus forced the country to shut down.

Aaron Keith Bynum, was arrested on Friday by Marion County Sheriff deputies, in Arkansas, on charges of first-degree terroristic threatening and harassing communications.

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Aaron Bynum was arrested after threatening a mass shooting at his local Walmart Credit: Marion County Sheriff

Three people died from the hantavirus after an outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius Credit: AFP

Deputies say the arrest stems from an investigation into supposed threats made whilst he was playing a online game.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Threats Operations Center received a tip on May 9 about an individual in an online multiplayer game had threatened a mass shooting at his local Walmart if the country were locked down again due to the hantavirus, according to a press release issued by the Sheriff’s office.

The tipster is said to have given the FBI Bynum’s alleged online username.

That was then used by investigators to subpoena the company that produces the game and identified Bynum as the owner of the account.

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A US Hantavirus patient is wheeled into Atlanta hospital Credit: FOX Atlanta

Passengers are disembarked from the cruise ship following the deadly outbreak Credit: AP

The FBI Fayetteville Field Office then contacted the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and passed the information to the Criminal Investigation Division on May 13.

The following day investigators submitted and received a search warrant for Bynum’s home, according to deputies, along with a probable cause affidavit for his arrest.

Investigators then served the warrant and during their search took a computer and computer accessories.

Bynum was also arrested and taken into custody at the Marion County Detention Center, according to Marion County Sheriff Gregg Alexander.

What is hantavirus?

THE deadly virus that has ripped through Dutch cruise ship the MV Hondius, killing three, is usually transmitted via contact with rodent droppings.

But this particular strain, known as “the Andes virus” is an alarming exception.
Only found in the mountains of Argentina and Chile, the strain is the only hantavirus that has demonstrated the ability to spread between humans.
And the strain could have a terrifying mortality of up to 40 per cent, the WHO believe.
Key signs of hantavirus include fever, muscle aches, fatigue, nausea, an the rapid-onset of breathing difficulties.
Passengers onboard the MV Hondius now face a weeks-long quarantine as officials scramble to contain the deadly outbreak.
Hantaviruses are spread by rats, through contact with their urine, droppings and saliva.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there are 10,000 to 100,000 cases in humans every year across the world.
Symptoms range from a mild flu-like illness to major respiratory issues or internal bleeding.
Although uncommon, limited human to human transmission has been reported in previous outbreaks of Andes virus – a specific species of hantavirus.
The strain is found largely in Chile and Argentina – where the cruise ship started in March – is the only known variant that can spread through close, prolonged human-to-human contact.
The WHO confirmed that ​the outbreak on the cruise ship is the Andes hantavirus.
South African officials also confirmed the Andes strain had caused infections in two of the cruise passengers.
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His bond has been set at $2,500.

In April, three people died from the hantavirus after an outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius while in the Atlantic Ocean.

Another 11 people on board fell ill and were hospitalised with eight of those being confirmed as hantavirus.

The latest concern has seen a Brit tourist taken into quarantine in Italy after travelling on the same flight as a woman infected by the deadly rat virus.

The British tourist had travelled on a St Helena Johannesburg flight on which Mirjam Schilperoord, the wife of patient zero, was also travelling.

It comes after WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he expects there to be more cases of the killer disease.