BOLO issued for St. Thomas University student causes concern on campus

MIAMI GARDENS - A BOLO or (Be on the lookout for) bulletin for an ex-law student of St. Thomas University was issued, sparking concern after social media pictures of that same person with guns circulated.

CBS4's Chelsea Jones spoke to a current law student who says the school never told them about the threat of danger. We asked the school about the incident, and they say this was a situation where students jumped to conclusions without facts.

The BOLO is of a former law student who was dismissed from the university on January 6th for academic reasons. According to the school, the social media pictures are from last November and were just brought to the attention of faculty on Monday.

"I understand that we live in a time where school shootings happen and we are very very aware but as I said in the beginning this is a situation where policies and procedures worked exactly as they're supposed to," said Vice President of Marketing Carlos de Yarza.

He tells CBS Miami the school took immediate action and alerted police. He says that's when the BOLO was sent out to security and administration but not to the student body.

De Yarza said the investigation revealed there was no cause for concern. However, current law students disagree and say there was a lack of transparency.

St. Thomas University says they followed policy as soon as they were made aware of the social media posts with the guns.

"On Tuesday, nine uniformed officers and a detective from homeland security went to interview the ex-student and his parents at their house where they determined there was no threat." de Yarza said. "The parents are gun owners, but those guns are locked away."

"I don't know how you can say oh there wasn't a threat when the BOLO itself clearly states this person is a threat if you see him call authorities immediately. So that seems to be downplaying exactly what the bolo says," said the law student that wished to remain anonymous.

Wednesday, an email was sent to the students of the law department acknowledging the pictures and the BOLO. It also says how they are saddened and disappointed by students' reactions and that they are studying and preparing to practice law and you can't make decisions until you have the facts.

The student says the facts are that they weren't alerted to the BOLO which could have allowed them to be more vigilant.

We've reached out to Miami Gardens Police for the status of this investigation but have not heard back.

St. Thomas University reports that Miami Gardens police is monitoring the ex-student, their vehicle, home, and their social media out of an abundance of caution.