PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) – A 40-year-old Washington man is accused of threatening to kill people at a rest stop on Interstate 10 in Florida’s Panhandle.

Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Eddie Elmore said in a news release that Ronald Lynch of Long Beach, Washington, was arrested Saturday after troopers and Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the rest stop.

Witnesses told investigators that Lynch was “acting in a threatening manner and yelling that he would start killing people with a weapon.”

Elmore says bystanders at the rest area hid in bathrooms once Lynch began making threats.

Deputies saw Lynch leaving the rest stop and conducted a traffic stop. He was taken into custody without incident. Records don’t list a lawyer for Elmore.

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