A student from Howard County threatened to go on a "shooting rampage" Sunday at theUniversity of Maryland, College Park, campus police said.



Alexander Song, 19, of Fulton, posted on a website comments such as "I will be on a shooting rampage tomorrow on campus," "hopefully I kill enough people to make it to national news," and "stay away from the Mall tomorrow at 1:30," according to a release from university police.



Song, a 2010 graduate of Reservoir High School, was taken to a local hospital for an emergency psychiatric evaluation, police said. He was unarmed when police apprehended him and charged with disturbing the orderly conduct of the activities, administration or classes at the campus, a misdemeanor that could result in a $2,500 fine or six months in jail.



Capt. Marc Limansky, a department spokesman, said police became aware of the threats Saturday night after a former student noticed them on the site reddit.com and two people who had contact with Song on the site omegle.com informed the school; at least one was from out of state. Omegle.com lets users text or video chat with random strangers.



"So far, it appears he does not have access to weapons" Limansky said.



Song was taken into custody at 10 a.m. on campus, near Cumberland Hall.



While it's rare for the university to see such threats, he said, "it seems like it's cropping up more," mentioning the recent high school shooting in Chardon, Ohio, and shootings at Virginia Tech. "That's what you want to prevent," he said. "We'll always do whatever we need to do to see who is posting these things, or do whatever necessary," he said.



Limansky said he was not aware of Song having any previous problems with the university.



Late Sunday, he said Song was still at the hospital. University administrators suspended Song, and he is no longer allowed on campus pending a review, police said.



jkanderson@baltsun.com



The Howard County Times contributed to this article.





