A professor accused of creating a campus-wide alert by shooting himself in a toilet on the second day of classes last month reportedly did so in order to protest President Trump.

A report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal said that Mark Bird, a sociology professor at the College of Southern Nevada (CSN), has been charged with discharging a gun within a prohibited structure, carrying a concealed weapon without a permit and possessing a dangerous weapon on school property.

The newspaper reported a number of odd details about the Aug. 28 shooting based on court documents and police reports in the case, which has a preliminary hearing set for Sept. 17. The college itself has revealed little about the incident beyond a short mention in the college president’s newsletter to staff, the Review-Journal reported.

Citing Mr. Bird’s arrest report, the Review-Journal said “campus police found a $100 bill taped to a mirror along with a note that said, ‘For the janitor.’ … On the floor of the restroom was a black-and-white, .22-caliber pistol and one spent shell casing.”

None of the several witnesses who saw Mr. Bird stumble out of the bathroom and then collapse at about 8:15 a.m. initially knew the professor had shot himself, hearing only a loud noise and prompting a 911 call, police said.

“While waiting for authorities to arrive, Bird said he had shot himself in protest of President Donald Trump, police noted in their report. The report did not elaborate,” the Review-Journal reported.

Robert Manis, president of the CSN’s faculty union, told the Review-Journal that the college handled the shooting without the needed transparency, adding that he has heard a number of rumors about it.

“They never really told the students much about it except that it was resolved on the actual day of the shooting,” he said Tuesday. “When you don’t give the full details, then rumors go crazy. It’s unfortunate because it made the students and faculty very afraid and allowed rumors to proliferate.”

College spokesman Richard Lake told the Review-Journal that Mr. Bird still was employed as a professor emeritus as of Tuesday.

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