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A 19-year-old white man suspected of posting online threats to shoot black students and faculty was arrested Wednesday, authorities said, adding to the racial tensions at the heart of the protests that led to the resignations of two University of Missouri leaders earlier this week.
Hunter M. Park, a student at a sister campus in Rolla, was arrested shortly before 2 a.m. at a residence hall. The school said no weapons were found.
Park, who has not yet been formally charged, is enrolled at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He was arrested by University of Missouri police and taken to jail in Columbia, about 75 miles to the northwest, where he was booked on a preliminary charge of suspicion of making a terrorist threat. Because of the Veterans Day holiday, he will not appear in court until at least Thursday.
The posts, discovered Tuesday on the anonymous location-based messaging app YikYak and other social media, threatened to "shoot every black person I see." They followed the resignations on Monday of the University of Missouri system president and the chancellor of its flagship campus in Columbia.
Park did not respond Wednesday to an emailed request for comment from The Associated Press. A message left on his mother's cellphone was not returned.
There were other threats, and authorities did not say if additional arrests were possible.
Another threat said: "Some of you are alright. Don't go to campus tomorrow." The message seemed to echo one that appeared on the website 4chan -- a forum where racist and misogynistic comments are common -- ahead of the deadly campus shooting at an Oregon community college last month.
Additional officers were already on campus before the university learned of the threats. University police were working with other state and local agencies to ensure the campus was secure, police Maj. Brian Weimer said in a statement.
"We investigated a number of reports and tips and take every one of them seriously," Weimer said.
The school's online emergency information center tweeted, "There is no immediate threat to campus," and asked students not to spread rumors.
Park, from the affluent St. Louis suburb of Lake St. Louis, has excelled academically in science.
As a senior early last year at Wentzville's Holt High School, Park was a member of the school district's robotics team when he won the honors division for a project titled "A Novel Method for Determination of Camera Pose Estimation Based on Angle Constraints."
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the project advanced to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles.
A spokeswoman for the Rolla school, Mary Helen Stoltz, said she did not know whether the university planned to take any action against Park over his arrest.
EARLIER COVERAGE
By SUMMER BALLENTINE
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- University of Missouri police said Wednesday they have arrested a suspect accused of making online threats against black students and faculty, threats that added to racial tensions on campus that resulted in the departure of two senior university officials.
"We had additional officers on patrol last night and the campus remained safe," Major Brian Weimer said in a statement. "We investigated a number of reports and tips and take every one of them seriously."
The online posts discovered on the anonymous location-based messaging app YikYak and other social media Tuesday threatened to "shoot every black person I see."
The threats follow the resignations Monday of the university system's president and the Columbia campus' chancellor after student protests over the university's handling of complaints about racism.
There were other threats, and authorities didn't say if additional arrests are possible. Another threat said: "Some of you are alright. Don't go to campus tomorrow." The message seemed to echo one that appeared on the website 4chan -- a forum where racist and misogynistic comments are common -- ahead of the deadly campus shooting at an Oregon community college last month.
The posts were widely disseminated across the Internet and local media.
Weimer told The Associated Press additional officers were already on campus before the university learned of the threats. University police were working with other state and local agencies to ensure the campus was secure, he said.
A university spokesman couldn't immediately be reached for further comment, but the school's online emergency information center tweeted, "There is no immediate threat to campus," and asked students to not spread rumors.
It has been a tumultuous week for the flagship campus of the University of Missouri system.
The student government president reported in September that people shouted racial slurs at him from a passing pickup truck, galvanizing the weekslong protest movement. A graduate student went on hunger strike to demand the resignation of university system President Tim Wolfe over his handling of racial complaints, then more than 30 members of the Missouri football team went on strike in his support. Those developments came to a head Monday with the resignation of Wolfe and hours later, the top administrator of the Columbia campus, Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin, was forced out.
A plaza that had been the site of a sit-in by protesters was entirely empty Tuesday night and only a handful of students were seen walking around campus. Police officers from the campus department and city of Columbia were on patrol.
Gaby Rodriguez, a senior, said she was at work when she heard about the online threats.
"It's really disheartening and proves the point of why these protests and boycotts were necessary," Rodriguez said. "I don't think I've ever felt this unsafe at Mizzou," she said, referring to the college by its nickname.
Some students, faculty and alumni have said the protests and top leaders' resignations are the culmination of years of racial tension.
Among other recent events, members of the Legions of Black Collegians, whose founders include a recently retired deputy chancellor, said slurs were hurled at them by an apparently drunken white student while practicing for a homecoming performance.
The university has promised changes.
Chuck Henson, a black law professor and associate dean, was appointed Tuesday as the university's first-ever interim vice chancellor for inclusion, diversity and equity.
The university system's governing body, the Board of Curators, also announced a number of other initiatives, including more support for the hiring and retention of diverse faculty and staff and a full review of all policies related to staff and student conduct.
EARLIER COVERAGE
By JIM SALTER and JIM SUHR
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- After weeks of racial turmoil forced the departure of the University of Missouri system's president and the Columbia campus' chancellor, the university has assured parents and students via email that administrators "are working toward real, enduring change" benefiting minority students.
Here's a look at what has happened, and what's on the horizon:
WHAT HAPPENED?
Many students, faculty and staff have been upset with top administrators almost from the outset of the fall semester. The university announced it was eliminating subsidies that helped pay health insurance costs for graduate student, and the university later severed ties with Planned Parenthood after political pressure from Republican state lawmakers. While both of those matters were remedied, racial unrest, including slurs yelled from a pickup truck at the student body's black president, led to "Racism Lives Here" rallies on campus. Pressure from protesters helped lead to Monday's resignation of the University of Missouri system's president, Tim Wolfe, and the chancellor's decision to step down at the end of the year.
WHAT'S THE PLAN FOR FILLING THE ADMINISTRATIVE VOIDS?
The university system's governing board has said an interim system president would be named soon, though there's no word about how quickly successors to Wolfe and Loftin may be named. The board planned to meet Wednesday but didn't say what topics the meeting will cover. Concerned Student 1950, the group behind the protests leading to Wolfe's departure, are demanding a say in those executive decisions.
WHAT IS THE UNIVERSITY DOING TO IMPROVE THE RACIAL ATMOSPHERE?
Chuck Henson, associate dean for academic affairs and trial practice at the law school, was named Tuesday to the new position of interim vice chancellor for inclusion, diversity and equity on the Columbia campus, with similar positions to be created and filled on the system's other three campuses. The school already had announced plans to offer diversity training to all new students starting in January, and the system's governing board has promised a full review of other policies, more support for victims of discrimination and a more diverse faculty.
HOW ARE MISSOURI POLITICIANS GETTING INVOLVED?
Members of the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus met Tuesday with protest organizers, including Concerned Student 1950 leaders, in the Columbia campus' black culture center.
"The issues going on up here are systemic," said state Rep. Brandon Ellington, a Kansas City Democrat and caucus chairman. "This is something that didn't happen overnight."
Concerned Student 1950 has said Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon, faculty representatives and the system's governing board will be given a list of the group's demands.