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Tacoma, WA college student detained after mass shooting threats, shotgun seized

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Published  May 28, 2026 2:06 PM PDT
Seattle
FOX 13 Seattle

The Brief

    • A Tacoma college student was hospitalized for a medical evaluation and served with an extreme risk protection order after police received a complaint that he was acting increasingly erratically and modeling his ideology off of a mass murderer.
    • The investigation began after the student posted a photo of a shotgun on Discord and left his Seattle apartment with a gun case, prompting officers to intervene and detain him.
    • The suspect told investigators he buried the shotgun in the woods near a Bellevue park, where officers recovered the weapon with a scrawled message recently scratched off the receiver.

SEATTLE - A college student from Tacoma is in the hospital and was served with an extreme risk protection order after authorities say he threatened a mass shooting.

According to the Seattle Police Department, officers received a complaint regarding a student on Tuesday around 1:00 p.m. According to the complaint, the student had become "increasingly erratic and radicalized" and was "clearly modeling his ideology off of a mass murderer."

The student was accused of posting a picture of a shotgun on Discord, which prompted the police complaint.

‘Mass murderer’ ideology leads to school threat

University officials were notified, and police launched an investigation.

Investigators learned the student lives in Seattle, and had left his apartment with a shotgun carrying case. Officers quickly intervened and detained the student, and found he did not have the shotgun on him.

The student was taken to the hospital for medical evaluation and was served with an "extreme risk protection order," which prevents high-risk subjects from harming themselves or others.

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Seattle police recover the buried shotgun in Bellevue, Washington. (Seattle Police Department)

Police recover shotgun with message scratched off

Police say the man told investigators he buried his shotgun in the woods near Robinson Community Park in Bellevue. Officers found the shotgun with scratch marks on the receiver; authorities suggested a message was previously scrawled on it and had recently been scratched off.

The suspect remains in the hospital, and there is no information about possible charges filed.

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The Source: Information in this story comes from the Seattle Police Department.

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