WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — A 22-year-old Wesley Chapel man was arrested Tuesday for making threats to "shoot up" his former university, according to a news release from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The university says Jonathan Andrew Zheng was arrested at his Pasco County home after allegedly posting on a Reddit message board that he planned to “shoot up the school.”
Campus authorities were alerted about the message around 7:30 p.m. on Monday, the university says.
The message, which was posted by Zheng using an anonymous username, contained additional threats but has since been removed from Reddit.
The news release says the arrest resulted from coordination between the Pasco County Sheriff's Office and the University of Illinois Police Department (UIPD).
"UIPD quickly obtained digital evidence associated with the post and determined that it originated in Pasco County, Florida. UIPD coordinated with PSO, and PSO deputies made contact with Zheng at his Florida home," the news release reads.
The Pasco Sheriff's office says Zheng told deputies that he wrote the post.
Accoridng to the university, Zheng was previously dismissed from the school, yet the reason behind the dismissal is unknown. The school says his student record cannot be made available.
“There were a lot of moving parts to this investigation in a very quick timeframe,” said U. of I. Police Chief Alice Cary. “For one thing, we had an observant community member who immediately reported alarming social media content.”
The university says community members are the first line of defense against violence.
“Police investigators acted quickly to identify the person responsible, and law enforcement cooperation extended beyond state lines,” Cary said. “Everyone involved recognized the seriousness of this threat and acted immediately to keep our campus community safe.”
