In the wake of a University of Northern Colorado student’s arrest last week after threats were allegedly made against the school, at least one student is wondering why authorities didn’t warn them about the incidents sooner.
Greeley police say 43-year-old Eric Kinder, a doctoral student, was arrested last week after displaying what they call dangerous behavior. Kinder had problems with school administrators and had a lot of guns, according to police.
Authorities say he also recently wrote a troubling post on Facebook.
“Fifteen semesters at UNC. 15 guns to buy. 10 down, five to go,” the post said.
Police were also concerned about a screenplay Kinder had written.
In it, a character named Eric “takes off his coat to reveal two under the arm pistols.” Then the character says, “You have fired people before while taking all their education possession. I will not let you do that to me.”
Police said Kinder made unannounced visits at administration offices on campus and became aggressive and confrontational Oct. 25. By the next day, UNC officials and Greeley police had had enough.
Kinder was suspended from UNC that afternoon and was arrested after a standoff at his apartment that night, according to police.
“When he initially came out, we basically surrounded his residence,” Greeley police Chief Jerry Garner said. “He was in possession of two guns. (He) wouldn’t come to us, went back into the residence. A period of several hours followed in which we negotiated, we talked with him. Finally, after 8 o’clock at night, he came back out of the residence after we had seen him positioning guns around various locations inside the residence.”
Garner said Kinder finally came out but didn’t follow officer instructions and was hit with “less lethal rounds” to knock him down before he was taken into custody. Garner said no one suffered serious injuries in the altercation.
The school sent a note to students Wednesday, which UNC senior Sierra Williams said was a day too late.
“In this situation, I would have expected to get one of those when police were responding to his house since he had weapons and it was so close to campus,” she said. “I know we’ve had shootings here in Colorado in the past, but you never think it’s going to happen here at our school.”
UNC spokesman Nate Haas said the school wanted to make sure it had all of its information correct before alerting students.
“We wanted to do our due diligence in checking facts and making sure this was legitimate and it was legitimate concern,” Haas said.
Police said that if Kinder posts bond, UNC plans to send out another alert.
Kinder was still in jail in lieu of a $75,000 bail.
Kinder, charged with two counts of felony menacing, is due back in court Nov. 23.
