A twenty year old student at Harvard University was arrested and charged after making a fake bomb threat. Authorities say that Eldo Kim’s actions required the evacuation of four different buildings on Monday. Kim, a Cambridge resident, told the FBI that he had made the bomb threat because he wanted to avoid taking a final examination. Apparently, Eldo Kim hadn’t studied for the exam, and needed a few more days. He was hoping that the bomb threat that he called in would give him at least a day but now it looks as if not being prepared for whatever final examination he was trying to avoid is going to be the least of his problems. Of course, the other students who were taking the final exams in the buildings that were evacuated will not be able to have some extra time to prepare.
According to authorities, Eldo Kim sent an email out around 8:30 AM to two different officials affiliated with the University. According to the email, there were “bombs placed around campus.” The email also went out to the campus newspaper, and to the police department of Harvard University. The email that was sent out had four different sites listed, one of them presumably near enough to the building that Eldo Kim was taking his test in, to ensure that it was one of the ones that would be evacuated. The notification said that these sites contained “shrapnel bombs.” The text of the email, according to the New York Daily News went: “Shrapnel bombs placed in science center, sever hall, emerson hall, thayer hall [sic], 2/4. Guess correctly. Be quick for they will go off soon.”
Police tracked down Kim through the email that he sent. He tried to use applications that his his email address but since he sent it from a university wi-fi network the police were able to track down where the emails actually came from. “Kim stated he chose the word ‘shrapnel’ because it sounded more dangerous and wrote, ‘2/4. guess correctly,’ so that it would take more time for the Harvard Police Department to clear the area,” said an FBI statement in the charges. Kim appeared in a U.S. District court today. If he is found guilty of this crime, he faces a $250,000 fine and up to five years in prison.