Matthew Miller, and Christopher Behnan

Lansing

EAST LANSING -- A Michigan State University student suspected of threatening a school shooting Monday is expected to face a charge of making a terrorist threat, police said.

Police arrested the man at Akers Hall about 12:25 p.m. following tips from multiple callers that he had made the threat on the social media app Yik Yak, said MSU police Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor.

The man did not have a weapon, McGlothian-Taylor said. She said he is either 18 or 19 years old but did not have complete birthdate information. She was unsure whether he lives at Akers Hall.

Though Yik Yak is touted as an anonymous messaging app, allowing users to create posts that can be viewed by other users within a 1.5-mile radius, MSU police were able to trace the IP address and locate the suspect, university spokesman Jason Cody said.

McGlothian-Taylor said she was unsure what escalated the incident to a terrorism charge. She was unsure if the suspect has a criminal history.

Terrorist-threat charges are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, primarily because First Amendment rights have to be taken into consideration, Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III said.

"That's why it's really case specific," he said. Dunnings said the statute stems from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The suspect did not mention a specific school in the threat, and in response, East Lansing Public Schools and Lansing's Eastern High School were locked down shortly after noon as a precautionary measure. Other Ingham County schools were advised to lock down, but it's not clear that all of them did. The lockdown was lifted shortly after the suspect was taken into custody.

East Lansing police responded because it was unclear if the threat was directed at MSU, local public schools, or both, Lt. Steve Gonzalez said. The district decided to keep students in school, but to lock buildings to outsiders, a process called "secure in place status," he said.