New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says a person has been taken into custody in connection with a series of antisemitic threats that left some Jewish students too afraid to stay in campus residences at Cornell University. "Law enforcement identified a person of interest as part of the investigation and this individual is currently in the custody of the New York State Police for questioning," the governor said Tuesday, per CNN. One of the messages posted in an online forum over the weekend threatened a shooting at the building that houses the university's kosher dining hall and Center for Jewish Living.
The Cornell University Police Department stepped up patrols and arranged extra security for Jewish groups after the threats, the AP reports. Hochul visited the Ithaca campus Monday and said the threats were being investigated to the fullest extent with assistance from the FBI and other agencies. "If you are going to engage in these harmful actions, hate crimes, breaking our laws—you will be caught, and you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," she said, per the Cornell Daily Sun. (More Cornell University stories.)