MIAMI – A 21-year-old student sent an e-mail to CanesWear at Miami FanWear in Davie threatening to commit mass murder at the University of Miami in Coral Gables and at a middle school in Miami, police said.
Investigators identified the student as Kenny Espaillat, who withdrew from UM on March 18. They learned he had arrived at Miami International Airport from the Dominican Republic on Jan. 1.
“I will begin my dream with a mass shooting at the University of Miami,” he wrote in Spanish, adding he also wanted to “shoot the kids to the head” at Shenandoah Middle School and to set a fire at MIA because he hates flying, according to the arrest form.
FBI agents and police officers responded to Espaillat’s apartment on Coral Way on Jan. 2. After talking to him about the threats made on Jan. 1st from his phone in the Dominican Republic, they decided to take him to Jackson Memorial Hospital for a mental health evaluation and treatment, police said.
Records show officers arrested him on Friday at the Jackson Behavioral Health Hospital and he was released on a $10,000 bond on Saturday. Espaillat is facing a charge of a written threat to kill or do bodily harm and his arraignment hearing is at 9 a.m. on Feb. 7.
6 p.m. report
Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Guadalupe Monarrez contributed to this report.