Moment 'highly erratic' ex-UCLA philosophy lecturer, 31, is arrested by Colorado SWAT team for threatening to commit mass shooting: Cops found 'alarmingly violent' 800-page manifesto
- Matthew Harris, 31, sent an expletive-ridden email to the UCLA Philosophy department on Monday
- He also uploaded 300 videos on YouTube about shootings and integration before YouTube took them down
- The email contained an 800-page manifesto where he also discussed attacking CU in Boulder, Colorado
- Police there arrested him on Tuesday near campus; a shelter-in-place order had been issued
- Cops say Harris had tried last year to buy a gun from a store in Colorado but was turned away
- He was put on leave from UCLA, where he was a lecturer, last year amid complaints from students
- Police in Colorado say they are still going through his manifesto but that it was 'alarming' in its violence
- UCLA classes will return to in-person on Wednesday and the shelter-in-place order in Colorado was lifted
A former UCLA lecturer who threatened to carry out a mass shooting at the school was arrested in Colorado on Tuesday morning where he had also made threats against a different campus in an 'alarmingly' violent 800-page manifesto.
Matthew Harris, 31, was taken into custody near the University of Colorado Boulder campus on Tuesday by SWAT teams.
On Sunday, he posted 300 unhinged and threatening videos on YouTube, and then he sent emails to UCLA staff threatening a mass shooting. He included details of the manifesto, which also had references to Boulder in it.
UCLA banned in-person classes and told the authorities about the Boulder references. Harris had worked at UCLA until last year but was put on leave after complaints from students that he had sent some of them pornography.
On Tuesday, after learning of the threat, Boulder Police Department issued a shelter-in-place warning near the college. It also evacuated an elementary school nearby.
At around noon local time, Harris was arrested off-campus but nearby. Video showed him being led away in handcuffs by SWAT teams.
Boulder Police Chief Maris Harold said at a press conference afterwards that detectives were still working through the manifesto but that it was 'alarming' in its violence.
'This is 800 pages we're going through. The level of violence we saw in the manifesto was so alarming.'
