By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Ernest Jacks Jr., the roommate of a man who was pardoned for murdering his wife in Mississippi in 1993, was arrested by Alabaster police said Jacks made terrorist threats during a recent television interview.

Alabaster police arrested Jacks, 68, on Feb. 3 a few days after the Fox 6 television station aired an interview with Jacks. Jacks lives at 121 Kentwood Way, which is off Kent Dairy Road.

During the televised interview, Jacks claimed “I will solve Social Security. How I’ll do that is I’ll bomb Florida and Arizona where there’s thousands of them. And then we won’t have to pay their Social Security checks.”

Jacks also said “in essence, I’m the anti-Christ” during the interview.

As of Feb. 3, Jacks had been charged with one count of making terrorist threats and was being held in the Shelby County Jail on a $15,000 bond.

Alabaster Deputy Police Chief Curtis Rigney said the arrest was tied to Jacks’ comments during the television interview.

Jacks is the roommate of David Gatlin, who was convicted of murdering his estranged wife in 1993. Gatlin was serving a life sentence for the crime when he was pardoned in January 2012 by outgoing Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and released from prison.

During the television interview, Jacks said he and Gatlin were longtime friends and were living together at the Kentwood Way house.