Police identify Harvard hoaxer who 'emailed bomb threat to get out of taking an exam' as 20-year-old student Eldo Kim

  • The FBI says Kim has confessed to emailing bomb threats to two school officials and the Harvard Crimson newspaper
  • Kim is an undergraduate psychology student who attended high school in Mukilteo, Washingon
  • Students were urged to evacuate - but no explosives were found and police sources said the incident appears to be a hoax during exam time
  • School officials have said that students do not have to sit exams and can instead use the grades from previous work

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 18:57 EST, 17 December 2013 | UPDATED: 22:35 EST, 17 December 2013

Pictured: Police have identified the suspect in Monday's Harvard University emailed bomb threat as 20-year-old psychology student Eldo Kim

Pictured: Police have identified the suspect in Monday's Harvard University emailed bomb threat as 20-year-old psychology student Eldo Kim

Prosecutors have identified the suspect they say emailed a bomb threat to Harvard Monday, shutting down four university buildings and bringing finals to a grinding halt.

Eldo Kim, 20, of Cambridge, Massachusetts has been charged with sending the electronic threats to multiple offices associated with the university.

Kim confessed to sending the emails from an anonymous address in order to get out of taking an exam, according to court documents.

This, according to NBC News' Ryan Ruggiero.

The emails falsely warned there were 'shrapnel bombs placed in science center, sever hall, emerson hall, thayer hall, 2/4. guess correctly. be quick for they will go off soon.'

The subject line of the emails read 'bombs placed around campus.'

According to a biography page at the Institute of Peace, Kim attended Kamiak High School in Mukilteo, Washington.

Kim won a contest with the institute, whose mission is to 'increase the nation's capacity to manage international conflict without violence' in 2008.

An undated Harvard University bio page lists an Eldo Kim in the department of psychology.

He lists his graduation date as 2016 in an article he wrote in April for the Harvard Independent. He also performs with the Harvard Breakers dance troupe.

Kim is to make an initial court appearance Wednesday. It's not known if he has a lawyer.

If convicted, he could face a maximum of five years in prison an a fine of $250,000.

A 20-year-old Harvard student has been accused of making Monday's bomb threats at Harvard University.
A 20-year-old Harvard student has been accused of making Monday's bomb threats at Harvard University.

Too busy? While he's been extremely active in extracurricular since high school--he played the viola, played tennis and swam, and more recently danced in a Harvard dance troupe--Kim's confession indicates he'd spread himself a little thin and went to extreme measures to catch up

Investigators from several agencies searched the buildings for hours before determining there were no explosives. One of the buildings was a freshman dormitory; classes are held in the other three.

Kim's confessed desire to get out of exams came true Monday after students  were unable to sit for their tough tests, officials said.

Two hours after threats were sent to officials and the Harvard Crimson newspaper, authorities had already decided they were likely a hoax.

In a statement to the Harvard community, Harvard Executive Vice President Katie Lapp said that the buildings were evacuated ‘out of an abundance of caution’ and that activities at the Ivy League school in Cambridge were returning to normal.

Threat: SWAT team officers arrive at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Monday morning after four campus buildings were evacuated following bomb threats

Threat: SWAT team officers arrive at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Monday morning after four campus buildings were evacuated following bomb threats

Blocked off: Police block off the entrance to the Science Center, one of the targeted buildings

Blocked off: Police block off the entrance to the Science Center, one of the targeted buildings

‘I am relieved to report that no suspicious devices were found,’ Lapp said in her statement.

The mood on campus was calm as students streamed out of Harvard Yard on a frigid morning with temperatures in the 20s. The gates around the yard were closed and people were allowed to leave but not enter unless they had school IDs.

A classroom building was also briefly evacuated Monday at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, which has 16,000 undergraduates and graduate students who are also taking final exams this week. University police got a call from someone who said they had seen a person with a gun in the building, which was closed while university, Boston and state police searched it. They determined there was no one with a gun and the call is being investigated, said school spokesman DeWayne Lehman.

Escape: Students are pictured gathering in Annenburg Hall as they awaited updates on Monday

Escape: Students are pictured gathering in Annenburg Hall as they awaited updates on Monday

Secured: After a sweep of the buildings, including the Science Center, no explosives were found

Secured: After a sweep of the buildings, including the Science Center, no explosives were found

Search: A police officer secures an area at Harvard on Monday after the threat was emailed to authorities

Search: A police officer secures an area at Harvard on Monday after the threat was emailed to authorities

Last month, another Ivy League school, Yale University in Connecticut, was locked down for nearly six hours while authorities investigated a phone call saying an armed man was heading to shoot it up, a warning they later said was likely a hoax.

And in February, someone called in a hoax about a gunman on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, another elite school about two miles from Harvard. The university said the caller claimed the gunman was a staff member looking for revenge after the suicide of an Internet activist accused of illegally using MIT computers.

 





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Grounds for expulsion.

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Ah, your typical self-serving 'liberal' hypocrite elitist poster boy.

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Now that his academic - heck, even professional - career is over, Im sure he will do well as a linecook at the Happy Wok and Dim Sum Palace restaurant. Can I get a #4 with a side of egg roll, please?

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I went to Harvard a decade ago. I can guarantee that if the kid went to the exam, no matter how unprepared, he would've gotten at least a "gentleman's B." Now he's ruined his entire education and future career. Kid should've gone to Yale!

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From the Institute of Peace page : 'Eldo plans to major in Political Science and is excited for what the future holds in the coming years.' Judging by the little trick he played at Harward , he seems to be made for political science. Remember a certain president who bombed an asprin factory in Sudan to cover up a sticky situation at home ? The only difference between the actual politician and this idiotic student is, the president was never charged for the bombing.

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He issued a threat in one of the most traceable ways on the planet? Seriously? Email? I thought Harvard was for Smaht People? Apparently not.....

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Harvard selects for smarts, but not for common sense.

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You'd think with having that level of education it would at least harbor with it some basic common sense.

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Not to mention the knowledge that emails can be traced

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Clearly not that bright...

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Hmmmmm.....Harvard's out. I wonder what they're doing up at Chico State?

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I can just see his thought process: "I have a test I won't pass. How to get out of it? 1 - I can not show up and take the test later 2 - I can take the test today and fail, but hope I don't fail too badly 3 - Call in a bomb threat We'll go with 3. It's the best plan ever. I'm a genius. Nothing will go wrong with that plan. "

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