Former UCLA Lecturer Arrested After Violent Manifesto Was Sent To Students and Faculty

A former University of California in Los Angeles instructor, who allegedly emailed a threatening manifesto to students and faculty, has been arrested.

The suspect is 31-year-old Matthew Christopher Harris, a former lecturer in the school’s philosophy department. Harris was taken into custody just after 10 a.m.

The situation unfolded Monday evening after Harris allegedly posted a YouTube video referencing a mass shooting.

“One of the videos was titled ‘philosophy department UCLA shooting’ along those lines,” said Beleh Toma, a freshman at UCLA. “It’s him doing a voiceover, you see his face and you see him holding a microphone. On the left he put a video of the Las Vegas shooting that happened, and then on the right, he put a video of the Columbine shooting.”

He also allegedly sent an 800-page manifesto making specific threats to people within the philosophy department. The video has since been taken down.

The threatening messages forced UCLA to temporarily cancel on-site classes and revert back to remote learning.

Now that the suspect has been arrested, officials say that it is safe to return to campus but it’s up to the school.

“At this point, we believe the campus is safe,” LAPD Chief Michel Moore. “However, we’ll continue to work with UCLA and support their decisions relative to campus to operations for the rest of today and into tomorrow.”

Moore confirmed earlier Tuesday that the FBI had located Harris in Boulder, Colorado.

Students are scheduling a sit-down protest in front of the chancellor’s office of campus issues and the latest scare.