A 21-year-old native of New York State has been arrested and charged with threatening to carry out a mass shooting and violence against Jewish students at Cornell University
Patrick Dai, a junior engineering student at Cornell originally from Pittsford, New York, was arrested today on a federal criminal complaint charging him with posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications, according to the Department of Justice.
The charge against him could see him serve five years in prison, three years supervised release and a fine of $250,000.
Dai is expected to appear in federal court in Syracuse before a magistrate judge Wednesday.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced the arrest via a tweet Tuesday, just days after the school’s message board was inundated with vile anti-Semitic threats.
A suspect was arrested Tuesday for allegedly threatening to carry out a mass shooting and violence against Jewish students at Cornell University (pictured)
New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced the arrest a day after meeting Jewish students at the Upstate New York university
‘Law enforcement has identified a person of interest in relation to threats of a mass shooting and antisemitic violence at Cornell University,’ she wrote.
‘This individual is currently in New York State Police custody for questioning.’
Hochul visited Cornell in Upstate New York on Monday to meet Jewish students who have been targeted in the wave of pro-Palestine protests after Hamas’ attack on Israel.
‘When I met with Cornell students yesterday, I promised them we would do everything possible to find the perpetrator,’ she said.
‘Public safety is my top priority and I’m committed to combatting hate and bias wherever it rears its ugly head,’ she wrote.
On Sunday, at the upstate New York Ivy League university, a series of vile posts were written threatening the Cornell Jewish community and specifically the kosher dining hall.
One post threatened to shoot Jewish students on campus, others called for more graphic violence, a third said the Jewish student center should – like Israel – be eliminated altogether.
The university’s president, Martha Pollack, told the Cornell community that she’d alerted the FBI about the threats – on Monday, the agency confirmed it had opened an investigation.
‘We take all threats seriously and are working closely with Cornell and our law enforcement partners at every level to determine the credibility, share information, and take appropriate investigative action,’ wrote the agency in a statement.
‘Nothing is more important than the safety of our communities and we will not tolerate violence motivated by hate and extremism.’
The Ivy League school was hit on Sunday with a series of vile posts threatening the Cornell Jewish community and specifically the kosher dining hall
Cornell – and many other college campuses – have seen a rise in anti-Semitic activity since Hamas’ October 7 terror attack on Israel.
Anti-Semitic graffiti was spray-painted onto campus sidewalks last week, and prior to that a professor – who has now taken a leave of absence – publicly called the Hamas terror attack ‘exhilarating’ and ‘energizing.’
Rabbi Ari Weiss, the executive director of Cornell Hillel: ‘Students are scared. They’re concerned for their safety.’
On Monday, the White House announced a larger mobilization effort of the Justice, Homeland Security, and Education Departments to combat hate speech on campuses across the nation.
DOJ and DHS have shared public safety information with campus law enforcement officers, and Justice has expedited the passage of anti-Semitic complaints to its Civil Rights division.
A New York State Police Department cruiser is parked in front of Cornell University’s Center for Jewish Living, in Ithaca, NY, Monday, Oct 30, 2023
Spray-painted messages such as ‘Zionism equals Racism’ and ‘Israel is Fascist’ began appearing on the sidewalks of Cornell University’s upstate New York campus
If successful, the idea is to streamline the analysis and viability of Title VI complaints, which are tied to federal funding that goes to American universities.
During a Monday White House press briefing, Karine Jean-Pierre said the president was keeping the Cornell community in mind.
‘President Biden has been clear, we can’t stand by and stand silent in the face of hate. We must without equivocation, denounce antisemitism. We must also without equivocation, denounce Islamophobia,’ she said from the podium.