Nov. 2, 6:40 PM - Fresno State officials say that police have taken a student into custody after learning about a social media shooting threat at the university.
Around 2 p.m. police arrested Christian Pryo on a charge of terrorist threat, in conjunction with a social media posting. The 18-year-old freshman from Los Angeles is a Fresno State football player. He was booked into the Fresno County Jail. FM89’s Ezra David Romero has more.
The threat on the social media application YikYak was noticed around noon alarming students and faculty at Fresno State. The person behind the threat said he would shoot someone at the school at three p.m. Police later found the male student on campus after locating the IP address of the device he used.
Fresno State Chief of Police David Huerta says they believe the student acted alone.
HUERTA: “We had approximately three hours from the received to the time this threat was going to occur. Our job was to do everything we could to stop it, prevent it.”
Despite the threat the campus was not evacuated. Fresno State Senior Fabiola Ramirez was in class when she was emailed the alert.
RAMIREZ: “Our teacher said well I’ll lock the doors. Then by around 2:30 we got an email saying everything is clear. That made me feel safe, but at the same time it’s like what if it’s not the right guy or he had an accomplice.”
The threat is under investigation, but police said the person behind threat will be held fully accountable for their actions.
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Nov. 2, 3:30 PM - Fresno State officials say a suspect is in custody today in connection with an online post threatening violence on campus. The threat was reportedly posted on the popular social media app Yik Yak. Fresno State officials say campus police are confident that the suspect "was acting as an individual." Classes on campus are continuing as normal, though many students stayed home after news of the threat spread on social media, and through an official campus alert. Fresno State officials have called a 4:00 PM news conference to discuss the situation.
Check back for updates.