Cornell Suspect's Parents Say He Had 'Severe Depression'

A Cornell University student suspected of posting violent threats against Jewish people on an online forum has been arrested, charged, and held without bail. Patrick Dai of New York faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted of posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications. The messages threatening to shoot Jewish students on Cornell's campus, slit the throats of Jewish men, rape Jewish women, and behead Jewish infants were traced to Dai through an IP address at his off-campus apartment, according to a federal complaint, which claims the 21-year-old admitted to posting the threats when interviewed by Cornell Police, per the AP. The Chinese American student has been suspended from the Ivy League school, per CBS News.

"While we take some measure of relief in knowing that the alleged author of the vile antisemitic posts that threatened our Jewish community is in custody, it was disturbing to learn that he was a Cornell student," university President Martha E. Pollack said Wednesday, per the AP. "We remain shocked by and condemn these horrific, antisemitic threats and believe they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law," Joel M. Malina, vice president for university relations, said in an earlier statement, per the AP. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday that the arrest showed the Justice Department "has no tolerance for violence or unlawful threats of violence fueled by antisemitism or Islamophobia," which have been increasingly reported since the latest Israel-Hamas war erupted.

Prosecutor Geoffrey Brown requested that Dai be remanded in custody Wednesday during his initial court appearance in Syracuse, where he wore an orange jumpsuit. Brown said the engineering student had visited Cornell's kosher dining hall before threatening to shoot up the area, per the BBC. Dai waived his right to a bail hearing and was assigned a federal public defender. He's next to appear in court on Nov. 15. His parents believe he's innocent but suggest he's in the midst of a mental health emergency. He began suffering from "severe depression" in 2021 and "told us he lost his life goal and motivation," Dai's father tells the New York Post. The parents claim to have lost contact with the 21-year-old in the days before his arrest and say they feared he would commit suicide. (More Cornell University stories.)