LOS ANGELES – The University of California, Los Angeles, switched to all-remote learning Tuesday after an apparent manifesto with threats was sent to faculty at the school.
UCLA said late Sunday that a “concerning email and posting” was sent to some faculty at the school and alerted law enforcement. On Monday, the school said law enforcement confirmed the person who appeared to make the threats was “under observation” and not in California.
All classes were moved online “out of an abundance of caution,” the school said.
The Los Angeles Times reported an 800-page manifesto was sent to faculty by someone who appeared to be a former lecturer at the school. The threats included videos posted to YouTube and emails with “specific threats” to the school and those who work there.
UCLA did not immediately respond to questions about the threats, the identity of the suspect and the suspect’s connection to UCLA.
The FBI’s Los Angeles field office was working with UCLA “to assess the situation,” FBI spokesperson Laura Eimiller said.
UCLA STUDENT STABBED:Man arrested in random knife slaying of UCLA student working at furniture store, LAPD says
The threats centered on the school’s philosophy department, the Times reported. The paper reported one YouTube video included with the threats was titled, “UCLA PHILOSOPHY (MASS SHOOTING)” and was uploaded Sunday. The video included nods to previous mass shootings, including the 2017 attack during a music festival in Las Vegas.
The YouTube channel has since been taken down.
The Daily Bruin, the school’s student-run newspaper, reported the faculty member who is thought to have sent the threats was placed on leave last year after allegations he’d sent a pornographic video to a student.
Around that time, his term as a postdoctoral fellow expired.
In light of the incident, UCLA said it was offering students and faculty counseling if needed.
In 2016, UCLA was the scene of a shooting after a former student killed his estranged wife in a Minneapolis suburb and traveled to the school, where he fatally shot an engineering professor who had been his mentor and then killed himself.
Contributing: Associated Press
