Anthony Volkman, 17, of Lockwood, Mo. has been charged with making a terrorist threat, a Class C felony. He is in custody in the Newton County Jail on a $50,000 cash-only bond. Image via KY3.com
Monday finals cancelled, dorm students relocated, and campus closed
By Sofia Sanchez Salcedo
Editor-In-Chief
Morning of Monday, Dec. 7
Many of the Neosho Crowder College students woke up on Monday morning and realized that the campus they were supposed to have finals in was closed, to some degree of rejoicement. However, the dorm students who had been awake since close to three in the morning of that day, had a much different reaction to campus being closed.
Carley Sanders, a freshman pre-veterinary technology major, was studying for one of the hardest finals of her first semester when one of her friends told her there were police lights near the dorms. Like most students, she was curious and walked by the scene, only to see a scrawny brown-haired boy talking to the authorities. She described the boy as having “a tube” attached to his nose.
A little while later, Sanders said, her heart sank when she realized he was the reason the dorms were being evacuated.
Threats by Volkman surface
On Sunday night, the security teams recognized a threat from a student, and called the Neosho police department. The student, 17-year old freshman pre-engineering major Anthony Volkman, had been making threats to cafeteria staff and students. From the police report, he had threatened to shoot students, and then claimed he had a bomb. According to that same Neosho police report, Volkman, who was from Lockwood, Mo., was staying at the dorms with a friend.
Volkman was an “off-campus student” who was “ staying with a dorm student for a couple of nights, which was a rules violations,” said Mark Aubuchon, Campus Life director.
According to an email sent to all Crowder students and staff by Crowder president, Dr. Jennifer Methvin, law enforcement officials discovered a suspicious item in Volkman’s vehicle, which was parked by the Brown complex, after he was arrested. Inside the van, police found a clear plastic tub with some wires and what appeared to be a Folger’s coffee plastic container: a device that was made to look like a bomb.
The device found in Volkman’s vehicle, which raised alarm among local security. Following examination of the components by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, it was not deemed to be an actual explosive device.
Around 9:15 a.m., Volkman’s van was removed from the premises surrounding the Brown dorm complex. Until then, close to 150 students took refuge in Davidson Hall.
Initially, according to Cindy Brown, Director of Public Information , only the first two rows in the dorms were evacuated, leaving four houses by the transport training behind because they were furthest from the area where the suspect’s van was. Eventually, the entire dorm complex was evacuated.
An x-ray of the device that was rendered harmless by ATF.
Officers were told that a student, Volkman, made comments about shooting other individuals and suggested that he had explosive devices, according to the City of Neosho Facebook.
Taking refuge in Davidson Hall
Kerrigan Arnold, the Opinion Editor for the Crowder Sentry, had been told she got the position of Resident Assistant (RA) not long before the incident occurred. Her roommate, Samantha Tiepelman, a general studies sophomore was set to graduate that Saturday. Tiepelman came in from a meeting with Aubuchon and other RA’s close to two in the morning. While she was aware that something was going on, Arnold didn’t expect her first experience as an RA to be so terrifying.
“Mark [Aubuchon] told me that I had to start that night, and our first assignment was to wake everybody in the dorms up and take them to Davidson [Hall, the FEMA shelter],” said Arnold.
Sanders, one of those students who were moved to Davidson on the early hours of Dec. 7, said that people were lucky if they grabbed their phones before the left, let alone their finals notes.
“Students were scared that they were not able to communicate to the families that they were safe, because their cell phones didn’t have enough battery, and Davidson has spotty reception,” said Sanders.
Anthony Volkman, of Lockwood, Mo., has been charged with making a terrorist attack, according to a report by City of Neosho. His picture comes courtesy of the Crowder College bookstore.
Local and State authorities investigate threats
By Monday morning, when staff, faculty, and students were getting ready for the first day of finals week, the news had come out: the Neosho flagship campus was closed.
“Law enforcement officials determined the device did not contain explosives,” according to an email sent student-wide by Dr. Methvin.
Despite this, the suspicious object was destroyed on-site, and the van moved early on Monday morning, according to the Neosho Police Department (NPD).
“The Springfield Fire Department Bomb Squad, Neosho Fire Department, Newton County Sheriff’s Office, Newton County Ambulance, Missouri State Highway Patrol and Missouri State Fire Marshal were called in to assist. The Springfield Fire Department Bomb Squad rendered the device safe and checked for other devices on the property,” according to the press release by the NPD,
The aftermath
On Facebook, Volkman’s family has stayed private about the affair, and have not responded to inquiries made by the Sentry. Others, however, have made their
Anthony Volkman, has been charged with making a terrorist attack, according to a report by City of Neosho. His picture comes from his Facebook page, where he called himself a “Mad Scientist.”
opinions on Volkman’s innocence clear. There are those who refer to Volkman’s Facebook self-imposed moniker, “mad scientist,” as well as those who also call him a “tinkerer,” arguing that he is just a socially awkward kid, and not a terrorist.
Whatever the case may be, Volkman confessed to the authorities to have made terrorist threats shortly before he was arrested.
A terrorist threat is accomplished if the suspect “communicates an express or implied threat to cause an incident or condition involving danger to life,” according to Section 574.115.1, under the Offenses Against Public Order in the Missouri Statutes, something that Volkman most definitely did, according to eyewitnesses who came forward with their reports.
Volkman, like most people, was probably aware of the notion that one does not yell “fire” in a crowded movie theater, nor shout that they have a bomb in the airport. Despite arguments by those who claim Volkman to be harmless, these situations are comparable to Volkman’s threat to shoot people at Crowder.
As Aubuchon said, “we always take any threats seriously and we encourage all students who hear or see any threats to report them immediately to the RA, to professional staff, or [to campus] security. Though the evacuation was inconvenient for the Brown residents, it was done as a precaution to ensure everyone’s safety.”
The finals were canceled on Monday only for the Neosho campus.
“Students who miss an on-ground final exam due to school being cancelled on the day of the final may take the grade they have earned going into the final exam,” according to the provision in the finals policy which accounted for inclement weather events.
Leave a Reply