A 21-year-old engineering student has been arrested on charges of posting the "horrendous" anti-Jewish death threats online at Cornell University that left the New York school on high alert this past weekend.
Patrick Dai, a native of Pittsford, New York, has been charged in a federal complaint charging him with using interstate communications to post threats to kill or injure others, reports the New York Post.
Dai, a junior who is majoring in engineering at the Ivy League school, is facing up to five years in jail. He was formally charged within hours after New York State Police said there was a person of interest who had been identified over making online threats, including to "bring an assault rifle to campus."
The messages came days after profane anti-Israel graffiti was seen on sidewalks at the Ithaca, N.Y., campus.
Dai allegedly threatened to "shoot up 104 west," the university Kosher dining hall and to "slit the throat" of Jewish men he encountered.
The online messages included posts on a public university forum saying that "the genocidal fascist zionist regime will be destroyed" and calling to "rape and kill all the jew women before they birth more jewish Hitlers."
Joel Malina, Cornell's vice president for university relations, confirmed Tuesday that a Cornell student had been arrested, but didn't name Dai.
"We remain shocked by and condemn these horrific, antisemitic threats and believe they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. We know that our campus community will continue to support one another in the days ahead," he said in a statement, adding that Cornell will maintain what New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on social media platform X, that Dai was questioned hours before the arrest after the state police had identified a person of interest.
"When I met with Cornell students yesterday I promised them we would do everything possible to find the perpetrator," said Hochul. "Public safety is my top priority and I'm committed to combatting hate and bias wherever it rears its ugly head."
The New York State Police referred questions to the university's police.
Meanwhile, Hochul on Tuesday named Jonathan Lippman, a former chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals, to review policies and procedures on antisemitism and discrimination at City University of New York campuses, stating that "the problem didn't begin in the weeks" following the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas.
"It's been growing on a number of campuses and seen most acutely in the City University of New York," the governor stated.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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