Missouri campus shut down after student claims to have anthrax

ROLLA, Mo. (AP) -- A University of Missouri-Rolla graduate student claiming to possess anthrax and a bomb threw this south-central Missouri community into a panic Tuesday, but police suspect it was nothing more than an empty threat by a depressed student and not an incident of terrorism.

The student's name was not released. Interim Police Chief Mark Kearse said he is an international student but did not give his name. He said the man was despondent over his grades.

"If we had to make an assessment right now, our assessment is that this is going to be a bogus or phony situation," Kearse said, adding that charges could be filed later Tuesday.

A white, powdery substance was found on the student and near a desk in a room of the Butler-Carlton Civil Engineering Building where the student was arrested. Authorities continued to evaluate the material but did not believe it was anthrax.

Twenty-three people -- eight students, a faculty member and emergency workers who responded to the call -- were quarantined because they could have come in contact with the substance. But Ray Massey, ambulance director at Phelps County Regional Medical Center, said none showed signs of illness. By midday, they had not undergone decontamination procedures and would not do so unless it was deemed necessary, authorities said.

The incident started shortly after 2:30 a.m. when police were called about a man making a threat. They arrived to find the student holding a paper bag and a knife. He said he had planted a bomb and said he had anthrax, Kearse said.

When the man refused to drop the knife, a university police officer shot him with a stun gun, and the man was arrested.

A Missouri National Guard team from Fort Leonard Wood was gathering samples to determine if the substance was hazardous, said Lt. Col. David Boyle of the 7th Civil Support Team.

The 5,850-student technological research and engineering campus was shut down during the incident and classes were canceled for the day while officers investigated. A Catholic grade school near campus was also closed for the day.

Police found a four-page note in which the student threatened to destroy the building, Kearse said.

The man's identity and nationality were not released, though school spokesman Lance Feyh confirmed he was an international student. The man was decontaminated and taken to a hospital before being taken to a holding facility at the Rolla Police Department, Kearse said.

The Fort Leonard Wood Explosive Operations Division was investigating the possibility that a bomb may be in the engineering building.

"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."

Campus spokeswoman Mary Helen Stoltz reiterated Kearse's belief that the student was "using the threat of terror to get attention."

"We believe the situation is completely under control," she said. "For now everybody's safe."

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On the Net:

http://www.umr.edu/

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Associated Press writers Margaret Stafford in Kansas City and Alan Scher Zagier in Columbia contributed to this report.