At approximately 2:32 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 27, the University of Missouri-Rolla Police Department responded to a call regarding a UMR student who was threatening terrorist type actions.

The student was apprehended at UMR’s Butler-Carlton Civil Engineering Building located on Pine Street in Rolla by the UMR Police Department and is now in custody and is being questioned by law enforcement officials.

The Civil Engineering Building has been evacuated and the City of Rolla has activated the Mobile Command Center to respond to this situation. The roads near the Civil Engineering Building, Including12th Street to 16th on Pine Street and Vichy Road and St. Pat’s Road, have been closed with detour signs. Please use alternative routes.

UMR officials have canceled classes until 10 a.m. while law enforcement agencies investigate this incident and clear the scene. In addition to the Rolla Police Department, Rolla Fire Department and UMR Police Department, the Missouri Highway Patrol and FBI are also on the scene. In addition St. Patrick Catholic School has also canceled classes.

The Fort Leonard Wood Explosive Operations Division is currently investigating the possibility that a bomb may be located in the Civil Engineering Building.The Rolla Fire Department Weapons of Mass Destruction team has set up a decontamination unit on 16th Street south of Pine to decontaminate 23 individuals who were in the Civil Engineering building at the time the suspect was apprehended. A white powdery substance was found on the suspect that is currently being investigated along with possible bomb materials. The unit was activated as a precautionary measure until it can be determined what the substance is.

A press conference conducted by the City of Rolla and Rolla Police Chief Mark Kearse will be held this morning, Feb. 27 at 8:30 a.m. in the Council Chambers at Rolla City Hall located at 901 North Elm Street in downtown Rolla.

For more information please call Scott Grahl, Communications Coordinator for the City of Rolla, at (573) 426-6943 or Mary Helen Stoltz, Manager of Public Relations at UMR, at (573) 578-6303.