Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York announced Tuesday that a “person of interest” had been identified after Cornell University’s Jewish Center received threats of a mass shooting over the weekend, according to a press release.
On Sunday, Cornell’s emergency management issued an alert that the police were investigating “posts located on a website that contain threats of violence directed at religious groups across the campus,” and law enforcement was sent to the school’s Center for Jewish Living, according to NBC News. Hochul visited the university Monday after the threats and “promised” the state would do everything it could to find the individual responsible and said Tuesday that police had arrested a suspect, according to a press release. (RELATED: White House Announces Plans To Target Antisemitism On College Campuses Following Pro-Hamas Protests)
“When I met with Cornell students yesterday, I promised them New York State would do everything possible to find the perpetrator who threatened a mass shooting and antisemitic violence on campus,” Hochul said in a statement. “Earlier today, law enforcement identified a person of interest as part of the investigation and this individual is currently in the custody of the New York State Police for questioning. Public safety is my top priority and I’m committed to combatting hate and bias wherever it rears its ugly head.”
A view of the lobby of ‘The Bridge’ building on the new campus of Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island, September 13, 2017, in New York City. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Hochul’s statement did not further elaborate on the identity or motive of the perpetrator and the university did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
The campus alert noted that the threats appeared on Oct. 29 and that “evidence suggests the targeted locations were intentionally selected because of the perpetrator’s bias.” Martha E. Pollack, the president of the university’s campus in Ithaca, New York, said that the police had alerted the FBI of a “potential hate crime,” according to a Sunday statement.
“Threats of violence are absolutely intolerable, and we will work to ensure that the person or people who posted them are punished to the full extent of the law,” Pollack said. “Our immediate focus is on keeping the community safe; we will continue to prioritize that. We will not tolerate antisemitism at Cornell.”
The incident follows a series of antisemitic incidents on campuses across the country at Michigan State University, Harvard University, George Washington University, Drexel University and more. In response, the White House recently announced that it was working with the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and the Department of Education to fight the rise of antisemitism on campus since the Hamas terror attacks against Israel on Oct. 7.
Russell Rickford, an associate professor of history at Cornell, called Hamas’ attacks, which left 1,400 Israelis murdered and over 200 taken hostage, “exhilarating” and that it was “shifting the balance of power.”
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