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Wave of campus threats in US
20/04/2007 08:02 - (SA)
San Diego - A web designer was charged with posting on his own site a bogus threat to kill 50 San Diego State University students, then alerting a TV station to try to draw publicity, the FBI said on Thursday.
It was among several cases emerging days after the Virginia Tech massacre and ahead of the the Columbine shooting anniversary.
Cristobal Fernando Gonzalez, 32, faces one felony count of making a threatening communication through the internet. He was being held on $30 000 bail on Thursday.
His parents said outside the federal courthouse that he was remorseful. "I hope it doesn't ruin his future," said his mother, Diana Gomez.
Scores of schools across the country shut down or evacuated students on Thursday and at least a dozen people were arrested or under investigation.
The wave of campus threats started soon after Monday's Virginia Tech shootings, in which 23-year-old gunman Cho Seung-Hui killed 32 people and himself. At least two students were arrested for bringing guns onto campus.
Columbine anniversary
The overwhelming majority of the threats referred to Monday's massacre in Blacksburg, Virginia, or the 1999 Columbine High School killings, authorities said. Friday is the eighth anniversary of the Columbine attacks.
A 12 000-student school district in Yuba City, California, about 55km north of Sacramento, was locked down on Thursday as authorities searched for a man they say threatened to dwarf the Virginia Tech attacks.
The man told a pastor on Wednesday night that "he had some sort of explosive device and he was going to make the incident at Virginia Tech look mild by comparison", Sutter County Sheriff Jim Denney said.
Officials cancelled classes and activities for Friday at school districts in Yuba and neighbouring Sutter counties, as well as at Yuba College. Classes were expected to resume on Monday.
In Michigan, police said they arrested a former Kalamazoo Valley Community College student who posted internet messages praising the Virginia Tech shooting. Officials closed the college's two campuses through the weekend.
The 26-year-old man "said his intent was just to evoke a response from other people," sheriff's lieutenant Terry VanStreain said. "He got a response from us, I guarantee you that."
US school scares
Among other arrests and school scares on Thursday:
A high school student near Seattle was arrested after authorities said he brought three loaded guns and extra ammunition.
A 20-year-old man in Bismarck, North Dakota, was charged with saying on a blog that the Virginia Tech massacre was funny and that he had plans for a school shooting rampage.
A high school student in Fort Smith, Arkansas, was arrested after police said he scrawled a message on a classroom desk saying he wanted to "be a hero" like Cho.
In St Augustine, Florida, a 14-year-old high school student was charged with threatening in an e-mail between friends to top the Virginia Tech massacre by killing 100 people, a sheriff's spokesperson said.
Two more bomb threats came in by phone to St Edward's University in Austin, Texas, the third straight day since Monday's massacre that the school had received a threat.
A letter referring to Columbine was posted on a locker room wall at Community R-6 School in Laddonia, Missouri. The school was locked down for much of the day. Officials said they would allow parents to keep their children home on Friday.
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