FILE PHOTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat Police stand outside the Main Library after it was evacuated on Oct. 30 after an e-mail threat to shoot "at least" six people inside.

Police say student sent an Oct. 30 e-mail threatening to shoot Îat least' six people

UA police arrested Pima Community College student Raymond Rodden III yesterday morning, on charges of threatening to shoot at least six people at the Main Library in October. The threat came just two days after a nursing student shot three of his professors and himself to death.

Rodden is accused of using a public computer in the Main Library to send the local media a threatening e-mail at 5:09 p.m. Oct. 30. in which the sender threatened to shoot and kill students, faculty or others.

The e-mail stated, "I am going to shoot and kill at least 6 student, faculty, or anyone else who gets in my way at the University of Arizona Library today @ 5:30 p.m. I want to break the record and since I have nothing going for me I will at least leave this legacy behind. Also, I am not going to be a coward and kill myself I will either make the Police kill me or will surrender and make the state kill me with the death penalty" (sic).

Rodden is accused of making the threat two days after nursing student Robert S. Flores Jr. killed professors Cheryl McGaffic, Barbara Monroe and Robin Rogers.

The University of Arizona Police Department reported that forensic evidence linked Rodden, 23, to the library computer in which the e-mail was sent, via a forensic investigation conducted by the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

The author of the e-mail identified himself as "John Doe" and sent the e-mail from an address that included the words "copy cat killer."

UAPD cleared and shut down the Main Library for the night after receiving the e-mail they now believe Rodden sent.

Students who were studying in the library at the time were evacuated, leaving their belongings behind. A police helicopter flew over the rooftop of the library and buildings nearby, as the Tucson Police Department and UAPD searched the library.

"This individual has disrupted the daily (routine) of the library and has made a serious threat that will be dealt with to whatever extent we are able to do," UAPD Cmdr. Brian Seastone said at the time.

Rodden was booked into the Pima County Jail yesterday on suspicion of interference with an educational institution and computer tampering, both felonies. He is also suspected of threatening or intimidating, disorderly conduct, harassment and false reporting to law enforcement officers, which are misdemeanors.