Chief of the Florida Atlantic University Police Department Charles Lowe and Vice President of Student Affairs Corey King held a news conference at 3 p.m., Wednesday afternoon to discuss new details of the Yik Yak shooting threat.

Emeil Stewart, 18, of Port Charlotte, Florida, was accused of making the shooting threat, according to a police report. This information wasn’t revealed until after the news conference where Lowe and King both spoke. A criminal records search of Stewart came up negative.

“We took all the necessary steps to confirm there was no viable threat to the campus,” Lowe said. “That was our focus last night, that we had positively identified the person who made the post and confirmed there was no viable threat.”

Main Points of Conference:

1. Stewart was never armed: 

“There was no gun,” Lowe said. The freshman agreed to a search of his possessions while in custody, where police found no weapons or guns inside his dorm room in Parliament Hall.

2. Stewart turned himself into authorities:

Lowe said the 18-year-old turned himself into the authorities after a phone call. Stewart told them he had more information about the events. “We asked him to come see us,” Lowe said. “He came in and presented some information, there was a [longer] conversation and eventually he revealed that he had made the post.”

3. Stewart is no longer a student at FAU:

Both King and Lowe revealed that he was given an interim suspension from all FAU campuses effective immediately for violating the school’s code of conduct by posting suspicious messages on social media. No charges were filed against Stewart. King said the school was “assisting the student in his assimilation back to Port Charlotte. We’re getting him back home.”

4. Campus Police on the Breezeway:

“We felt like an increased visible presence would give some level of comfort to students,” Lowe said. He noted there was a heightened presence of campus police officers on the Breezeway during the day, but not to protect against a secondary attack.

5. Student involvement:

Lowe and King applauded students who took concern with the threat and brought it to law enforcement’s attention, with students calling, tweeting and coming to the department in person. “It’s difficult for law enforcement to keep up with all the social media,” Lowe said. “But that student feedback, because students are much more adept at that than we are, is critical.”

6. Campus events were not affected by threats:

Chief Lowe mentioned that the security presence at the Miami game would be larger than usual. The choice was not made on the events of Tuesday night. “We staffed the UM game appropriately before this event occurred,” Lowe said. “We expect that to be a sellout crowd and one of the largest events the university hosted, so we were prepared for that beforehand.”