Update posted: 12.09.2007 // 12:15 a.m.

On December 8, 2007, the Los Angeles Police Department’s Major Crimes Division arrested a 21-year old student for making criminal threats. The senior at Loyola Marymount University was taken into custody at 10:15 this evening near his apartment on campus.

The student was linked to a threat that was posted on Juicycampus.com, an anonymous chat board primarily used by college students. LMU Public Safety officials contacted the LAPD at 11:30 a.m. on December 8 and reported the threat. The suspect had claimed he would shoot and kill as many people as possible on campus before being incapacitated or killed by the police.

Working with the LMU Department of Public Safety, Major Crimes investigators along with the Computer Crimes Unit were able to determine the threat had come from the computer registered to the suspect. Students, faculty and staff were notified by the LMU emergency communications call-all system with a voicemail alerting them to the threat.

According to Deputy Chief Michael Downing, head of the LAPD Counterterrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau, “There was never an indication the threat made was a valid one, and there is no on-going threat to LMU.”

“What is clear,” said Chief Downing, “is that we take any threat seriously and will quickly respond, track down those responsible for sending the messages, and we will arrest them.”