Houston Man Arrested For UT-Austin Threats

AUSTIN, TX — University of Texas at Austin police said Sunday they were able to trace threatening calls made to the campus to a Houston man who has since been arrested.

Sean Evan Haddon, 23, was arrested at 9 a.m. on Sunday after being charged with making a terroristic threat, a third-degree felony punishable by up to a decade in prison. As of Sunday, the man was being held in Harris County with a bail set at $300,000.

During a press conference, UT-Austin police Chief David Carter said the man has never attended UT-Austin. The man's threats began on April 7 at around 4 a.m., police said, during which he said he had placed a pipe bomb on campus while demanding payment in bitcoin and sexual favors. In his series of calls, the worst threat came when the suspect vowed to kill at least 200 people.

The police chief said the campus was thoroughly searched along with surveillance camera footage before it was determined no real threat existed. Some students took to social media after the press briefing complaining they were not told of the threats immediately. This prompted the chief to explain that because the suspect was in Houston at the time the threats were made, the decision not to alert students was made given that they were not in any immediate danger.

"Once we identified where the suspect was — that he was not in Austin — we believed there was not an imminent threat to the university,” Carter said. “Had the situation been different, where we felt like the suspect was here in the city or in the area and could affect the university, it would have been a different story.”

Haddon is said to have been arrested without incident by Haris County Sheriff's Office deputies. Police found some ammunition and firearms at his home after a search warrant was secured, but no weapons cache or bomb-making materials, the chief said.

The incident comes a little over a month after a series of bombings sent to unsuspecting residents killed two people and injured others before the bomber was stopped by police. As police closed in on the serial bomber last month, he detonated his final lethal package against himself to blow himself up.

Carter acknowledged the bombings sparked a quick investigation into the terroristic threats made to the campus: “Obviously, one of the things that was very important to us was recognizing that the community was absolutely terrorized during the bombing events,” Carter said. “It was really important for us to get on top of this as quickly as possible.”

It's unclear if Haddon was trying to emulate Mark Anthony Conditt, 23, identified as the serial bomber, in a "copycat" fashion. Conditt's actions terrorized an entire city during the span of three weeks before killing himself to elude police capture.

UT-Austin President Gregory L. Fenves praised the campus police in a subsequent tweet: "Outstanding police work by @UTAustinPolice assessing calls and tracking down this suspect," he wrote. "Thanks for all you do to keep our campus and community safe."

Watch Chief Carter's full press conference below:

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