FLORENCE, Ala. (AP) - A University of North Alabama student who police said threatened to “shoot up” the school in an Internet post was charged with making a terroristic threat.
Brian Mitchell, a 22-year-old junior from Madison, was accused of posting the threatening message Tuesday morning on the social media site “Yik Yak,” University Police Chief Robert Pastula said. Mitchell posted that he was going to “Shoot up UNA.”
Police said another student spotted the post and brought it to the attention of Pastula, who placed the university on high alert as a precaution. Extra officers and state police were brought in to watch for suspicious activity, and an elementary school was briefly placed on lockdown.
Mitchell is no longer enrolled at the school, university officials said. He will have to go before a university judicial committee to determine his status as a student, they said. It wasn’t known Saturday whether he has an attorney.
It was the second threat involving an Alabama university campus in recent days.
Auburn University canceled classes Wednesday over a message found in a campus restroom threatening violence on the anniversary of the massacre at Virginia Tech, school officials said.
Auburn University police said they didn’t believe the alleged threat represented any danger, but the school increased security and suspended operations out of an abundance of caution.
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