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Man Charged With Threatening Police Officers And Their Families

A Central New York man has been charged after allegedly making threats to harm police officers and their families.

Herkimer Police say 25-year old Rayvonn Burks is charged with two counts of making a terroristic threat.

Officials tell WKTV that upon taking Burks into custody on an unrelated charge, he made death threats against police officers and then announced he would set their homes ablaze while the officer's families were inside.

Burks is further accused of threatening to visit the homes and schools of the officers' children and shoot them with a rifle in retribution for his arrest.

Burks was arraigned in village court and sent to the Herkimer County Correctional Facility in lieu of bail.

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.