Loyola Marmyount University had a day of heightened security after a shooting threat appeared online. The Los Angeles Police Department arrested Carlos Heurta, 21-year-old student at Loyola Marymount University, near his apartment on campus for suspicion of making criminal threats.
The suspect allegedly posted, "I am going to shoot and kill as many people as I can until which time I am incapacitated or killed by the police." The entry was eventually taken off the site, however the investigators worked in conjunction with University officials to determine that the threat had come from a computer registered to Huerta, according to police.
JuicyCampus.com has drawn concern from the University's administration in the weeks preceding this incident over its anonymous material, which has been classified as hate speech by the University.
Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Lane Bove asked the Bias Incident Response Team to investigate JuicyCampus.com weeks ago, treating it as hate speech. "BIRT will be visiting this issue in the upcoming week," said Bove.
The Web site advertises itself as completely anonymous, but "there is nothing anonymous in the electronic age, everything is traceable," Bove said.
"After 9/11 and the shootings in Omaha, you can't joke around with these kinds of threats," Bove said. This is the second online shooting threat that the LAPD has had to investigate since Friday
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."
When reflecting on the University's response, Bove assessed the systems set in place favorably and emphasized the University's commitment to keeping students at LMU safe.
