A Texas Woman's University student voiced his frustration with Veterans Affairs in a class Tuesday morning and made threats involving an assault rifle, setting off a campus lockdown, a police search and his eventual arrest on a charge of making a terroristic threat.
Christopher Alan Gillette, 30, was in the Denton County Jail on Tuesday night on the charge, which is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year's incarceration.
TWU Public Safety Chief John Erwin said Tuesday afternoon that Gillette, a political science major who enrolled at the university for the first time this semester, was in a history and government class when he became angry and began making statements about his treatment by the Veterans Affairs office.
"He was making statements in class and getting very, very mad," Erwin said at a news conference. "He was angry with the VA."
In an interview Tuesday night in the Denton County Jail, Gillette said he was speaking while in intense pain from injuries suffered while he was in the military and out of frustration with the government because he is not getting the medical help he needs.
Gillette said he was speaking generically about Washington and did not mean to threaten his fellow students.
"In no way, shape or form would I ever hurt anyone at TWU, nor did I threaten anyone," he said. "It was my way of letting the school know that my government is not listening to me. I've been in pain a long time, and I'm tired of it."
The incident began at about 9 a.m. in Room 204 of the Arts and Sciences Building, where professor Paul Travis was holding class. Travis could not be reached for comment. ALSO ONLINE
• Suspect talks about his pain
Erwin said Gillette left the classroom, Travis dismissed the class and TWU police were notified.
Officers initiated a campus alert, using e-mails, text messages and phone calls, the chief said, and began a lockdown process. Christopher Gillette
They told people who were outside to leave campus and those indoors to remain where they were.
Erwin said the alerts and lockdown were carried out "in an expeditious manner."
The lockdown was lifted at 11 a.m. after Gillette had been detained.
TWU police asked Denton police for help in locating Gillette, Erwin said, and the two agencies worked together to end the situation safely.
Denton police Lt. Lenn Carter said officers were able to contact Gillette by phone.
"He was circling the VA parking lot in Dallas when we were talking to him," Carter said. "He was calm. He was not making threats. He was frustrated with the VA because he says he needs physical therapy and they are giving him pain medication."
Carter said Dallas officers detained Gillette.
Erwin said TWU officers obtained an arrest warrant and took Gillette into custody at about 2 p.m., then took him to the county jail, where he remained Tuesday night.
The university has issued a temporary suspension and banned Gillette from the campus pending further investigation, the chief said.
No weapon was found in Gillette's car or on his person, but Erwin said officers are still investigating an alleged threat to fetch an assault rifle and bring it to campus.
Erwin said the university cannot release any personal information about Gillette. According to the Denton County Judicial Records website, he lives in Denton in an apartment in the 200 block of Inman Street, which is the Forum at Denton Station. Employees there refused to confirm that he lives there or to comment.
Erwin confirmed that this is the first gun-related incident at TWU since 2002, when a man with a gun confronted his estranged wife at her workplace in the Administration Conference Tower.
The man took his child as a hostage, then released the boy and shot himself, dying several days later.
TWU's alert system has been used several times, Erwin said, but never for a situation such as this one. He said Gillette was upset and angry but the university did not consider the outburst merely a venting of his frustration. "We considered it a threat," he said.
Sametra Andersen, a junior majoring in social work, and her classmates were in a room in the Classroom Faculty Office Building when they received the lockdown alert.
"We didn't know what was going on for 20 or 30 minutes," Andersen said. Then, they began texting and checking the Internet for more information.
When they realized someone had threatened to bring a weapon to campus, they turned out the lights and moved to a corner away from the door, she said.
DONNA FIELDER can be reached at 940-566-6885. Her e-mail address is dfielder@dentonrc.com .
