LOS ANGELES – A former lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles, was arrested Tuesday after police say he sent an 800-page manifesto riddled with violent threats to former colleagues at the school — an arrest that led to evacuations and disrupted schools in two states.
Matthew Harris, 31, was arrested in Boulder, Colorado, after police spent hours evacuating a nearby elementary school and some fraternity and sorority homes at the University of Colorado Boulder before making contact with him and taking him into custody peacefully.
UCLA alerted law enforcement after a "concerning email and posting" was sent to some faculty at the school Sunday. Early Tuesday, the school said law enforcement confirmed the person was not in California. But all classes were moved online "out of an abundance of caution," the school said.
Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said police at UCLA tracked the suspect to Boulder and alerted local authorities and federal agencies.
Herold said the threats were outlined in an 800-page manifesto sent to UCLA, calling it "very violent and very disturbing." She said the levels of violence detailed though the pages were "alarming." The manifesto also included references to Boulder, universities and schoolyards, she said.
"Upon reviewing parts of the manifesto, we identified thousands of references to violence, stating things such as killing, death, murder, shootings, bombs, schoolyard massacres," Herold said.
Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said the suspect attempted to purchase a handgun in November in Colorado but was rejected due a national database that flagged a provision that said he was not allowed to own a firearm. It's unclear exactly why the suspect was rejected.
Herold said her agency had contact with the suspect in October for an unspecified incident. She said no one was arrested but didn't elaborate on the incident. Police are investigating his ties to the Boulder community and it's unclear whether he worked for any schools in the area, she said.
Dougherty said his office is considering a host of charges against the suspect and federal charges could be added as well, since the suspect threatened victims across state lines.
UCLA officials announced the arrest Tuesday afternoon and in emails to faculty and students. In-person classes would resume on Wednesday, the school said.
"The threats made yesterday were frightening for many of us and caused our community to feel vulnerable at an already challenging time," said Michael Beck, the administrative vice chancellor at UCLA. "I offer my deepest thanks to UCPD and other law enforcement agencies for thoroughly investigating these threats as soon as we learned of them and for coordinating to locate and arrest the individual in Colorado."
The Los Angeles Times reported the manifesto included specific threats targeting UCLA and individuals who work there along with videos posted to YouTube.
UCLA STUDENT STABBED:Man arrested in random knife slaying of UCLA student working at furniture store, LAPD says
The threats centered on the school's philosophy department where Harris previously worked, the Times reported. An email sent to the department included profanities and racial references.
The paper reported a YouTube video included with the threats was titled, "UCLA PHILOSOPHY (MASS SHOOTING)" and was uploaded Sunday. The video included nods to previous mass shootings, including the 2017 attack during a music festival in Las Vegas. Another video on his page included references to spots on UCLA's campus being added to his "list," the newspaper reported.
The YouTube channel has since been taken down.
Harris worked as a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA, teaching about the philosophy of race and personal identity, according to a UCLA newsletter in 2019 announcing his hiring.
The Daily Bruin, the school's student-run newspaper, reported Harris was placed on leave in 2021 after allegations he'd sent a pornographic video to a student.
Around that time, his term as a fellow expired.
In light of the incident, UCLA said it was offering students and faculty counseling if needed.
In 2016, UCLA was the scene of a shooting after a former student killed his estranged wife in a Minneapolis suburb and traveled to the school, where he fatally shot an engineering professor who had been his mentor and then killed himself.
Contributing: Associated Press
