Troubling Story from the West Coast
A Boalt law student could be facing criminal charges after allegedly posting online threats toward Hastings:
UC Hastings officials were alerted on Wednesday afternoon of a blog post threatening a copycat murder-suicide in reference to the events at Virginia Polytechnic Institute Monday, said UC Hastings spokesperson Lorri Ungaretti.“The threat did not specifically reference it, but it felt clear that that was what it was,” she said.
UC Hastings officials contacted the San Francisco Police Department as well as the San Francisco branch of the FBI, and cancelled classes for the rest of the day, Ungaretti said.
“The FBI investigated and found it was a student at Boalt and that it was a hoax,” she said. “Classes resumed as usual (on Thursday).”
Read the text of the threat, after the jump.
This article quotes the offending post, which appeared on www.autoadmit.com:
The message was headed, “Just decided not to do a murder-suicide copycat at Hastings Law” and was authored by a user called “Trustafarian,” who went on to write, “I went to bed all set for ‘Bloody Wednesday,’ but when I woke — to sun, to flowers in bloom — I just couldn’t bring myself to suit up. Maybe tomorrow; I hear rain’s in the forecast.”
Unsurprisingly, Boalt is “consulting with mental health professionals.”
(19) Comments
Comments
So this means they can and will trace user IP addresses on autoadmit.
well, maybe, its unclear of they turned him in or if he turned himself in.
The sad part is that by AutoAdmit standards, the post was relatively tame.
He turned himself in after Hastings over-reacted and an xoxo administrator contacted "Trustfarian."
Hate to break it you, but nearly every message board logs your IP address. Perhaps even this one...
but if you sign in from the school's wi-fi do they know whose computer it was? who would know - the message board admin, or the school's IT dept?
Completely agree with 10:28am. The post was honestly nothing compared to everything else that goes on there. If you add "Hastings" to 90% of the posts there it would have been just as "threatening". The point is taken in context, it was nothing. So either the dean is just completely ignorant, too dumb to recognize the context, or just wants the attention. I submit that it is all three.
What a joker.
Maybe taking down xoxo based on this is like taking Al Capone down based on tax evasion. Think about it.
The last thing you'd want to be is the dean who ignored the threat, only to have your school shot up. Better safe than sorry, especially in light of the Virginia Tech shootings. I hope the idiot gets expelled.
Hastings is TTT anyway, who cares if it got shut down?
12:22 PM: TITCR.
12:22 - I'm guessing you went to a TTT, since you didn't check your facts first. Hastings is in the USNWR top tier, usually ranked somewhere in the high 30s to mid 40s. It used to be ranked in the 20s, but UC funding cuts have taken their toll.
LOL. mid 40's = Essentially TTT
HTFH
2:55 -- such uber-pwnage
03:02pm - another TTT member from Hastings.
US News- #38
06:01pm - another useless TTT Hastings student.
Whatever you people think of Hastings' ranking, try not to shoot at us. How embarrassing for you.
it's quite obvious that the creation of this post is subtle hastings-trolling by ATL