A former lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles is in custody after he allegedly sent “specific threats” to members of the philosophy department, including an 800-page manifesto and a video referencing a “mass shooting.”
Police in Colorado said during a press conference Tuesday that Matthew Christopher Harris, who authorities believe is 31, was tracked to the Boulder area Monday night by California police.
Police then set up a SWAT perimeter around an apartment building around 8 a.m. local time and issued shelter-in-place orders to more than 60 surrounding homes. Multiple school buildings, including University Hill Elementary School and fraternity and sorority houses at the University of Colorado, Boulder, were also evacuated.
Harris was eventually arrested around 11 a.m. local time, police said.
“Upon reviewing parts of the manifesto, we identified thousands of references to violence, stating things such as killing, death, murder, shootings, bombs, schoolyard massacre,” Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said, with references to both UCLA and Boulder.
UCLA moved all of its classes online Tuesday after Harris, a former lecturer and postdoctoral fellow in the philosophy department, allegedly sent the YouTube video titled “UCLA Philosophy Mass Shooting.” It made multiple references to mass shootings across the U.S. including the 2017 Las Vegas massacre.
The Los Angeles Times obtained a partial copy of Harris’ manifesto, also emailed to staff in the philosophy department, which made specific threats towards some staff members, as well as references to race.
“da war is comin,” he wrote, according to the Times. “forward dis [expletive] to our tha goldhead caucasoid princess.”
Herold said their investigation found that Harris had attempted and failed to buy a handgun in Jefferson County in November, which Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty suspected was due to a protection order against him in California, according to the Daily Camera.
“The importance of having collaboration at the federal, state, and local levels was critical to the swift resolution of this incident this morning,” Herold said.
Nathan Robbins, a junior whose girlfriend was among those to receive an email with a link to Harris’ YouTube video, told NBC Los Angeles that it went out to former class members.
“He emailed her old class with this weird threat, including like a link to a video about mass shooting with himself in it so—basically threatening to come shoot up the school,” Robbins said. “It’s really terrifying, honestly.”
