Worker Says Coworker Made Repeated Threats — Then Commenters Said to Call Police Before HR

A worker said a coworker’s repeated threats became frightening enough that they no longer felt like the issue should stay inside the workplace.

The worker shared the situation in a post on r/legaladvice, explaining that a coworker had allegedly been making repeated death threats. The post title itself described the situation as “getting death threats,” which made clear the worker was not asking about ordinary tension or rude office behavior.

Workplace conflict can start small. A coworker gets irritated, complains, snaps in a meeting, or says something unprofessional in the break room. But repeated threats are different. Once an employee believes another person at work is threatening their life, the issue is no longer only about company policy, discipline, or professionalism. It becomes a safety concern.

The worker wanted to know what to do. That is a difficult question because many employees are trained to bring problems to managers or HR first. They may assume workplace issues should stay internal unless something physically happens. But when the issue involves threats, waiting on internal channels can feel risky.

The concern is not just what was said once. It is the pattern. If a coworker makes one disturbing comment and immediately apologizes, management still needs to know. But if the threats keep happening, each new incident makes the worker wonder whether the coworker is escalating, testing boundaries, or getting more comfortable saying dangerous things out loud.

That can change the way a person experiences the entire job. Walking into the building feels different. Seeing the coworker in a hallway feels different. Leaving at the end of the shift feels different. The employee may begin watching exits, avoiding certain areas, asking others to stay nearby, or checking the parking lot before walking out.

The worker’s post captured that fear and uncertainty. Should they go to HR? Should they call police? Should they document first? Should they wait until management reacts? Would police even take it seriously if the threats happened at work?

The answer from commenters was clear: a threat does not become less serious because it happened in a workplace.

That distinction matters. HR can discipline, investigate, separate employees, or fire someone. But HR is not law enforcement. A manager can tell someone to stop, but they cannot create the same kind of public record that a police report can. If a coworker is making repeated threats, the worker may need both an internal record and an outside report.

The post did not describe a neat resolution where the coworker was removed or charges were filed. It stopped at the point where the worker was still deciding how to respond, which made the timing important. When threats are still happening, the safest next step is usually not to keep hoping the coworker calms down.

Commenters strongly urged the worker to contact police if the coworker was making death threats.

Several people said HR should be notified, but not as a substitute for a police report. The worker could tell HR that threats had been made, but commenters did not think the employee should wait for HR to decide whether the threats were serious enough for outside help.

Others said the worker should write down every incident they could remember. That meant the exact words used, dates, times, locations, witnesses, and any messages or recordings that were legally obtained. If coworkers heard the threats, their names should be saved too.

A repeated point was that the worker should not soften the language when reporting. Saying “my coworker has been bothering me” or “there has been conflict” might make the issue sound like a personality clash. Saying “my coworker has repeatedly threatened to kill me” makes the safety concern much clearer.

Some commenters said the worker should ask the employer for immediate protections: not being scheduled with the coworker, being moved to a different area, having security notified, and getting an escort to the parking lot if needed. Those steps would not replace a police report, but they could reduce the worker’s immediate risk.

Others warned against confronting the coworker directly. Once someone has made threats, trying to handle it one-on-one can be unsafe and can also muddy the record if the conversation turns heated. The safer route was to document, report, and let people with authority handle the contact.

The post did not end with an official outcome, but commenters treated the situation as urgent. They did not tell the worker to wait for another threat or see if the coworker was joking. They told them to create a record before the pattern escalated.

That was the core message: workplace threats are still threats.

The worker’s next step needed to be more than telling a supervisor in passing. They needed documentation, a clear report to HR or management, and a police report if they believed the threats were real.

Because once a coworker repeatedly threatens someone’s life, the issue is no longer about workplace tension. It is about whether the company and authorities have a record before the next shift puts both people in the same building again.