Former UCLA Lecturer Arrested Following Mass Shooting Threats Against University

A former UCLA lecturer was arrested on February 1 after allegedly issuing threats of mass shooting against the university

The lecturer, identified as 31-year-old Matthew Harris, is accused of sending an 800-page manifesto to various students and faculty at UCLA threatening violence against them; the manifesto is also alleged to have expressed a desire to commit violence in Boulder, CO, where Harris was residing at the time of his arrest.

“Upon reviewing parts of the manifesto, we identified thousands of references to violence, stating things such as killing, death, murder, shootings, bombs, schoolyard massacre in Boulder, and phrases like ‘burn and attack Boulder,’” Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said in a statement, calling the manifesto “alarming” and “disturbing.”

The Los Angeles Times reported that Harris posted a video to his YouTube channel on January 30 featuring “footage of the 2017 mass shooting at a Las Vegas music festival and clips from the 2003 movie ‘Zero Day,’ which is loosely based on the Columbine High School mass shooting.” Other videos feature Harris making “racist comments” and referencing “specific locations on the UCLA campus as he says they’re added to his ‘list,’” the Times reported.

The Jerusalem Post also reported that Harris’ manifesto called for killing Jews and other minority groups, accusing Jews of deplatforming from social media. “Violence against Jews should happen,” he wrote. “Retaliation and retribution for what they have stolen is legitimate and a good thing.” Harris also wrote in the manifesto that Adolf Hitler didn’t go “far enough,” the Post reported, quoting him as stating: “Crackers and K—s shall die.”

Harris was a lecturer as a postdoctoral fellow from 2019-20 before being placed on leave; student reviews accused Harris of being “unprofessional” and even sending sexually explicit material to another student, the Times reported. Harris also became increasingly aggressive toward a UC professor who he turned to for professional advice, so much so that he had written emails to his mother in January 2021 threatening to kill the professor. His mother forwarded the emails to the professor to warn her about it, prompting a restraining order to filed against Harris.

The threats had briefly forced UCLA into remote classes again after students had only just returned to in-person learning following a hiatus from the omicron COVID-19 variant.

“We are greatly relieved to share that law enforcement officers in Colorado have taken into custody the individual who made threats against some members of our UCLA community yesterday,” Assistant Vice Chancellor Suzanne L. Seplow wrote in a message to students, according to CNN.

American Jewish Committee Los Angeles Regional Director Richard S. Hirschhaut tweeted, “Reports that Harris’ email threat included racist and antisemitic slurs is a reminder that the social pathologies of mental illness and hate are not mutually exclusive. Kudos to @boulderpolice for averting a tragedy from what was described as a violent and disturbing manifesto.”

Reports that Harris’ email threat included racist and antisemitic slurs is a reminder that the social pathologies of mental illness and hate are not mutually exclusive. Kudos to @boulderpolice for averting a tragedy from what was described as a violent and disturbing manifesto. https://t.co/SeDUsCZfx2

— Rick Hirschhaut (@rickhirschhaut) February 2, 2022