Threat of mass shooting at CSU lands student in jail

A Central State University student is in jail and is scheduled to have a jury trial after allegedly telling campus employees he “wouldn’t be afraid” to “pull a Virginia Tech.”

Charles D. McCornell, 27, was arrested Tuesday and charged with inducing panic and disorderly conduct. The first charge is a first-degree misdemeanor and the second is a fourth-degree misdemeanor. He was arraigned Wednesday in Xenia Municipal Court. A jury trial is scheduled for March 1.

He remains in the Greene County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bond. McCornell has also been ordered not to be on or around the CSU campus.

Cox Media Group Ohio on Wednesday obtained a copy of the incident report from the CSU Department of Public Safety.
According to that department, the incident occurred Feb. 1 in Wesley Hall. He had become frustrated while trying to schedule a meeting with various faculty members to discuss a disputed grade. According to witnesses, McCornell said he was “tired of being given the run around,” adding he would “pull a Virginia Tech.”

According to witness statements to CSU public safety officials, he said, “They won’t be satisfied until they start seeing body bags leaving here.” One witness told police he “kept saying that he wasn’t afraid to do it because he lost his mom and he has nothing to stop him.”

Charges were filed late last week.  Information about McCornell’s hometown, his academic major or the course connected to the grade dispute was not immediately available.

“The officer came in and explained the situation to me and I immediately approved the warrant,” city Law Director and Prosecutor Ron Lewis said Wednesday. Lewis said it took time to locate the student to make the arrest because his local address was listed in court papers as 380 W. Market St. in Xenia, which is not on campus.

“He may not have meant anything by it — who knows,” Lewis said. “But to make a statement like that and to specifically reference that incident that happened on a campus, I don’t think you can take that lightly.”

In April 2007, Seung-Hui Cho, a senior undergraduate at Virginia Tech, opened fire on the Blacksburg, Va., campus. He killed 32 people and wounded at least 25 others before committing suicide in the worst school shooting in U.S. history.

Fran Robinson, CSU’s director of public relations, said the incident is under review and investigation by a campus judicial committee.

“The safety of our campus community is paramount,” she said. “We take these kinds of things seriously and commend our campus police department for responding quickly to take the suspect into custody.” 

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-6983 or andrew.sedlak@coxinc.com.