Joshua Bote | USA TODAY

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Pittsburgh police and University of Pittsburgh officials are investigating a series of threatening racist messages sent by a student that later spread on social media, they said.

University of Pittsburgh student Ethan Kozak has been interviewed by city and university police over a slew of slur-laden texts sent to off-campus resident D.J. Matthews, who is black.

The Snapchat messages in question show Kozak threatening to shoot Matthews, police said. "I wanna see what you'll do if it's on sight and I'm carrying," he wrote. "Then I get (to) legally shoot your (expletive) ass just like George Zimmerman."

The message invokes George Zimmerman, the man acquitted for the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin in 2012. Matthews, according to police, "does not want to go forward with a criminal complaint."

"Pittsburgh Bureau of Police and (University of Pittsburgh) Police are both aware of the online comments made by Ethan Kozak and are closely monitoring them," said Chris Togneri, public information officer for the City of Pittsburgh, to USA TODAY.

Kozak is a junior studying political science, according to the university's student-run newspaper, The Pitt News. The publication confirmed that he sent the messages "in a fit of anger."

Kozak has been placed on interim suspension from the university, The Pitt News reported.

"Such conduct is unacceptable and runs in stark contrast to our university’s values and mission," said Kevin Zwick, communications manager at the University of Pittsburgh, to USA TODAY.

Kozak previously interned for former Republican Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman, according to a post published by Coffman's public Facebook page.

"Get him kicked out of school and politics before he becomes someone who’s in charge of our laws," tweeted Pittsburgh resident Marie Kramer last Thursday. She included a series of screenshots sent to Matthews.

"I saw people being hurt by this," Kramer told USA TODAY. "I just wanted people to help us get ahold of the school so they would be forced to do something despite his personal and professional connections."

Kozak, according to tweets shared by Kramer, allegedly sent threatening and sexual messages to other individuals. "I'm going to be rich either way," he wrote in one message in which he threatened to stab another unidentified individual. "I don't give a (expletive)."

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