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Univ. of Chicago threat: Suspect identified, FBI says plot was retaliation for '14 shooting

By Ed Adamczyk and Doug G. Ware
The University of Chicago closed its Hyde Park campus Monday after the FBI received warning of a credible threat. Photo courtesy the University of Chicago
The University of Chicago closed its Hyde Park campus Monday after the FBI received warning of a credible threat. Photo courtesy the University of Chicago

CHICAGO, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Federal authorities arrested a suspect Monday believed to be responsible for posting an online threat against the University of Chicago campus, where classes were canceled after word came of possible violence.

A tipster alerted the FBI to an online threat that specifically mentioned the campus quad, an open area and walkway between college campus buildings. The threat indicated violence would take place Monday at 10 a.m.

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The online threat, which was detailed verbatim by the Chicago Tribune, was written by a poster who gave their initials as "JRD" -- the initials of suspect Jabari R. Dean, who was taken into custody at his Chicago home later Monday afternoon.

Dean, identified as an electrical engineering student at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, reportedly admitted to posting the threat and faces a charge of transmitting a threat in interstate commerce.

Investigators said specifically, the threat was retaliation for the shooting of Laquan McDonald, the Chicago Tribune reported Monday. In October 2014, McDonald was shot 16 times by a Chicago police officer in an incident last year that left the 17-year-old black teen dead.

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The officer who shot the teen was charged with murder last week.

The threat warned that the suspect would kill 16 Caucasian students, staff and police and then himself at the campus Monday morning, the Tribune report said. Dean reportedly told police he deleted the threat a short time after posting it.

The FBI told a judge Monday that it doesn't believe Dean had the means to carry out the attack. However, Sunday and early Monday, the University of Chicago and authorities took the threat very seriously.

"Based on the FBI's assessment of this threat and recent tragic events at other campuses across the country, we have decided in consultation with federal and local law enforcement officials to exercise caution by canceling all classes and activities on the Hyde Park campus through midnight on Monday," university President Robert Zimmer said in an email sent to all students, faculty and staff early Monday.

Zimmer said the school's police and security presence would be strengthened, with security personnel visibly carrying weapons. The school would also maintain close contact with the FBI.

The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, the libraries, the Quadrangle Club Student Health and Counseling services and other campus facilities were also closed Monday. The University of Chicago Medical Center was scheduled to remain open.

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Northwestern University, with campuses in Evanston, Ill. and Chicago, will be open but with an increased security presence.

If convicted, Dean could spend up to five years in prison.

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