A Harvard University student faces charges for designing Monday’s bomb hoax that led to the evacuation of four campus buildings.
Eldo Kim, 20, admitted to FBI agents that he sent multiple copies of an email message that read “shrapnel bombs placed in science center, sever hall, emerson hall, thayer hall, 2/4. guess correctly. be quick for they will go off soon.” HUPD followed up on the threats by evacuating all four campus buildings while investigators, technicians and federal agents spent several hours searching for explosives.
The FBI’s official report states that Kim sent the emails using Guerrilla Mail, an Internet application that allows users to generate temporary and anonymous emails free of charge. Kim also accessed Guerrilla Mail through a TOR software that assigned him a new IP address for a limited amount of time. Both tools were used to preserve Kim’s anonymity as he carried out his plan.
The same report also notes that Kim admitted to organizing the bomb hoax so he could avoid a 9am exam scheduled in Emerson Hall.
In addition to the HUPD, Kim’s threat prompted university officials to call in higher security authorities up to the federal level. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives as well as the United States Secret Service were two other federal agencies called upon aside from the FBI, illustrating the situation’s perceived gravity.
Kim is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.