A Baton Rouge man was arrested as the primary suspect in the LSU campus bomb threat earlier this week but police don’t believe he is connected to other incidents made against other universities.
William Bouvay Jr., 42, was taken into custody Tuesday night for the threat after an investigation by multiple law enforcement agencies, LSU Police Capt. Cory Lalonde said.
Bouvay was not an LSU student and appeared to have no connection to the campus, Lalonde said. Officials refused to speculate on a motive, saying only that it wasn’t a national security issue.
Col. Mike Edmonson, superintendent of state police, referred to the bomb threat as a prank and said the “foolishness of an individual” affected thousands of students, parents and workers who were forced to evacuate.
Similar threats were made last week at college campuses in Texas, North Dakota and Ohio.
“We don’t believe at this point that there is any connection to the bomb threats at other universities,” Lalonde said.
Lalonde said police tracked Bouvay down after determining the 911 call Monday came from a deactivated cellphone that could only make emergency calls. Investigators were able to pinpoint the location of the cell phone Tuesday and searched homes in the Baton Rouge neighborhood before identifying Bouvay as a suspect, he said.
“Upon questioning, he admitted to making the phone call,” Lalonde said.
The caller claimed multiple bombs would detonate on campus within two hours, but did not say where, authorities said, so bomb-squad officers with explosives-sniffing dogs were called in to search all buildings.
As with the threats made last week at the University of Texas, North Dakota State University and Hiram College, the search failed to turn up bomb explosives.