The San José State University Police Department and the FBI have arrested a man they say is behind a series of violent and hateful text messages left in men's and women's restrooms at the university.
The written threats warned of bombings and knife and gun violence and caused fear on campus, authorities said.
The suspect has been identified as Ziheng “Tony” Fang, 30, of San José, a student with a master's degree in data science. Fang was arrested and charged with one count of false information and forgery, according to the US Department of Justice. Although Fang was charged in one incident, authorities say the defendant was responsible for a series of hate messages found throughout Northern California.
Citing a criminal complaint, the Department of Justice said police identified 20 separate incidents of Fang leaving these messages in bathrooms. The messages have been appearing regularly since October 2024, and the last one was seen on May 14 of this year, authorities said. In many cases, according to a Justice Department news release, the messages left in the bathrooms included “threats specifying a specific date for the intended attack.” Additionally, threats include weapons or methods of planned attacks, the agency said, citing court records.
A message in a plastic bag, found on November 5 last year, bore Fang's fingerprints, prosecutors said, and another message was found in the bathroom scrawled on the wall, calling for the death of many people and warning of bombings.
A paper message received on Nov. 5 said, in dirty handwriting: “!WARNING! MORE BOMB NEXT WEEK,” and included several swastika symbols, images of the poster show.
According to the Justice Department, the criminal complaint said investigators looked at the times Fang used the key card to access school buildings and said, in 16 cases, threatening messages were found in bathrooms in the days that followed.
In some cases, Fang was seen on surveillance footage going in and out of bathrooms or areas near bathrooms, up to a day before the messages were discovered, prosecutors said.
Because of these threats to school property and student safety, the San José district president's office sent email and text message alerts to students and staff “prior to the days of the alleged attacks,” the complaint says, according to the Department of Justice. When these messages are issued, professors at the university independently “decide whether or not to cancel the class or hold it close.”
These warnings caused widespread alarm. On the days of the alleged intimidation, the facility's buildings in question resembled a “ghost town,” prosecutors said.
Fang is in federal custody after his arrest Friday and is expected to be arraigned Thursday, when a judge will decide whether he will be released pending trial.
Times writer Clara Harter contributed to this report.
