Former UCLA instructor who made threats against school taken into custody in Colorado
UCLA announced Tuesday afternoon a former instructor who allegedly posted an alarming video and sent some students and faculty a threatening email was taken into custody in Boulder, Colorado. In a note to its students, the school said it will return to in-person learning Wednesday after switching to remote instruction due to the threats.
"The threats made yesterday were frightening for many of us and caused our community to feel vulnerable at an already challenging time," the school said, thanking law enforcement officials.
During a Tuesday afternoon news conference, Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold identified the suspect as Matthew Harris. The UCLA student newspaper, The Daily Bruin, reported he was a former lecturer and former postdoctoral researcher in the school's philosophy department.
Herold said Harris sent an 800-page manifesto with thousands of references to violence to the UCLA Police Department on Monday. The department traced the sender to Boulder and alerted local authorities.
On Tuesday morning, Boulder police sent a SWAT team to Harris' apartment and took him into custody. Authorities were executing a search warrant at the apartment.
Herold said Harris unsuccessfully tried to buy a handgun in Colorado last November. Police had contact with him in October, but the encounter didn't lead to criminal charges, the chief said.
After UCLA received the threats, the school announced just before midnight on Monday that all classes would be held remotely Tuesday "out of an abundance of caution," CBS Los Angeles reported. UCLA had just gone back to in-person learning Monday after holding classes remotely due to the recent COVID-19 surge.
The Daily Bruin cited philosophy department emails as saying the emailer sent "several communications" to department faculty and students that included "a link to his YouTube video titled 'UCLA Philosophy (Mass Shooting)' and an 800-page manifesto outlining threats."
The video has been taken down by YouTube.