Bond set for UD student accused of sending terroristic threat to ‘shoot up this school’

DAYTON — A University of Dayton student accused of sending a threatening message to the university via social media appeared in Dayton Municipal Court on Wednesday afternoon, according to online court records.

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Joseph Hartrich, 19, pleaded not guilty to charges of inducing panic and making terroristic threats, according to online Montgomery County Jail records. His bond is set at $50,000.

Hartrich was arrested Monday, according to online jail records. As of Wednesday afternoon, he remains in custody.

Also Wednesday, the university announced that Hartrich has been criminally trespassed from campus, according to a university spokeswoman.

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The threat was posted to the social media platform Yik Yak on Monday morning, claiming that a specific building on campus was going to be shot up at noon, according to messages students sent to News Center 7. UD Public Safety has identified the building as Marianist Hall, a dormitory.

A investigation followed that involved University of Dayton Public Safety and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI spokesman Todd Lindgren said in a statement released to media Tuesday.

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The FBI Office in Cincinnati requested “an emergency disclosure from the law enforcement section of Yik Yak,” according to an affidavit and statement of facts related to the investigation. The FBI received a phone number and was able to track the location of the phone at the time the post was sent.

That’s when law enforcement discovered that the location of the phone was on the UD campus and the phone number matched records that led them to Hartrich.

According to the statement of facts, Hartrich admitted to investigators that he wrote the threat to “Shoot up this school today at noon.”

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