BYU police aren’t laughing at April 1 bomb threat videos
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Pat Reavy, KSL
PROVO, Utah (KSL) — BYU police arrested a South Jordan man who allegedly claimed his threat to place bombs throughout BYU’s campus was an April Fools’ Day joke.
Alexander Patrick Farmer, 23, was booked into the Utah County Jail on Monday for investigation of making a threat of terrorism.
On April 1, police received several reports that Farmer had posted a video to Instagram and Facebook with the caption, “I have had bombs placed on every BYU classroom. Set to ignite at an undisclosed time. Class is canceled,” according to a police booking affidavit.
Officers were able to identify Farmer as the person who posted the video, “in part because one of the reporting parties was the suspect’s father,” the affidavit states.
As officers continued to investigate, they located another video posted on March 19 by Farmer in which he “discussed his intent to make an April Fools ‘joke’ in the form of a terroristic threat. In that video, the suspect stated he was considering either making a bomb threat intended to shut down airport terminals or falsely claiming there was an active shooter at a school,” the affidavit alleges.
Another video that raised red flags for police was posted on Feb. 22.
“Based on the totality of these circumstances, officers are concerned that the suspect may be emotionally unstable and may pose an ongoing risk to the public. The suspect’s pattern of online statements involving bombs, school violence, and self-harm reasonably raises concern for his potential for escalation,” police wrote in the arrest report.