A few important questions: What neighborhood did this happen in? Is there a good alternate route?

I'd say 90% chance he was all talk, but if there's even a 10% chance of an ugly confrontation, it's not wrth the risk unless you're the kind of idiot who gets off on that, which you're obviously not given your original post. If this happened downtown or on the east side, than I wouldn't worry as the police presence and geenral population density discourage crime except late at night, but if it happened in the area between where I live and downtown (along Lisbon/Walnut), I'd change my route for a week or two. We've had too many cases of rogue youth getting violent and these kids have nothing to live for but their twisted sense of status.