Bomb and Anthrax Threats by Student Shut Down Missouri University

Nearly two dozen people had to be quarantined Tuesday morning after a white, powdery substance was found in the lab where a graduate student had been threatening to destroy the building.

At about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, police were called to a civil engineering building on the campus of the University of Missouri in Rolla because of an agitated student making threats. According to acting Police Chief Mark Kearse, when police arrived, the student held up a bag and said, "This is a bomb." He was carrying a knife and told officers that he had anthrax.

After using a stun gun to subdue the student, Kearse said, police discovered a four-page note in which he threatened to destroy the building. School officials said that graduate student was apparently depressed and angry about his grades. "If we had to make an assessment right now," Kearse said, "Our assessment is that this is going to be a bogus or phony situation."

A Fort Leonard Wood Explosive Operations Division team was called to the campus, as well as the Missouri National Guard. Even though the scare appears to have been false, school officials said that "possible bomb materials" were found near where the student was taken into custody.

A National Guard team took samples of the white powdery substance to see whether or not the material is hazardous. However, officials said that none of the people who were exposed to the powder had shown any symptoms. The people quarantined included the faculty member in charge of the lab where the student was holed up and eight students who had been working nearby. The other people quarantined were emergency responders.

Campus spokeswoman Mary Helen Stoltz told reporters that although officials haven’t yet determined what the substance was, she believes the student was simply "using the threat of terror to get attention." Although the identity and nationality of the student were not released to the media, a school spokesman told reporters that he was an international student.

Mayor William Jenks said the student "had problems and was depressed," and that is what led to the incident. The student was decontaminated and taken to a hospital for evaluation before being taken to a holding facility at the police department. The school campus was shut down and classes were cancelled for the day while authorities investigated. "We have no hard evidence that there’s anything wrong in the building but we simply can’t take a chance," Jenks said. "We’re taking a very cautious approach."