A University of Pittsburgh student is accused of threatening to blow up the statistics department in Wesley W. Posvar Hall following an incident Tuesday in which Pitt evacuated the school’s largest academic building.
No bombs or explosives were found.
Pitt police charged Eden Ann Schwartz, 19, of Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood, with making terroristic threats and threatening to use weapons of mass destruction.
Polie said Schwartz posted an Instagram message shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday that read: “ON MY WAY! TO BOMB THE STATISTICS DEPARTMENT.”
A criminal complaint filed in the case said Schwartz is a Pitt student who takes a statistics class in Posvar Hall. On Wednesday, the university’s website said her major was undeclared but provided little additional information.
The post appeared to be removed Wednesday from an Instagram account bearing Schwartz’s name.
Police said Schwartz was taken Tuesday to Allegheny County Jail to await an arraignment Wednesday morning. Her attorney was not listed online.
The social media post, which led at least one person to call 911 Tuesday, featured a photo of Schwartz’s face and “building facades,” the complaint said.
The complaint said police later learned Schwartz had posted the Instagram message from the sidewalk outside Pitt’s Strand Building, about three blocks from Posvar Hall.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation flagged the alleged threat to university police, Pitt spokesman Jared Stonesifer said Tuesday night in a statement.
Police cleared Posvar Hall around 3:50 p.m. Tuesday, Stonesifer said. At least six police dogs and multiple officers from Port Authority Police and Allegheny County Police searched the building.
Police said they found and took Schwartz into custody near the Cathedral of Learning within 40 minutes.
Students and staff had been rushed out of the more than 740,000-square-foot building, which sits on land previously occupied by large portions of Forbes Field. Forbes was home to the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1909 to 1970.
The building reopened just before 5:15 p.m., the complaint said.
Pitt police and university officials have declined further comment, citing the criminal investigation.
Posvar Hall, named after a former Pitt chancellor, houses the school’s College of General Studies, its School of Education, the School of Public and International Affairs and other departments, according to the school’s website. It is the largest “academic-use-only building” on campus, school officials said.