CU Junior Arrested After Comments About Va. Tech Gunman

BOULDER, Colo. -- A University of Colorado junior has been arrested and suspended from school after allegedly making comments that sounded sympathetic to the Virginia Tech gunman.

Police arrested CU-Boulder student Max Karson Tuesday on suspicion of interfering with staff, faculty or students of an educational institution.

CU police Cmdr. Brad Wiesley said Karson made comments about understanding how someone could kill 32 people during a class he was attending.

Karson said he was "angry about all kinds of things, from the fluorescent light bulbs to the unpainted walls, and it made him angry enough to kill people," multiple witnesses told police, according to a police report.

Wiesley said people in the class interpreted Karson's statements as threats, and that the issue focused on the impact his comments had on his fellow students.

One female student who asked not to be named said she was in the classroom with Karson when he made the comments. She told 7NEWS that while she liked Karson as a person, she said she "was freaked out" when he said he was angry enough to kill his classmates.

The student told 7NEWS that Karson said, "Anybody who walks around here and says that they don't think about killing 32 people is lying."

"And that's when it kind of got really uncomfortable," she added.

She also said she was concerned for her own safety and that the teacher has been asked to move the location of class.

Michael Karson said he thinks his son's remarks have been misinterpreted.

Max Karson appeared in a Boulder courtroom Wednesday afternoon and posted a $1,000, co-signed by his father. Part Karson's bond conditions include having no contact with CU students of faculty, except for Judicial Affairs proceedings.

He is required to notify the campus police department before he arrives for those proceedings.

CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard told the Boulder Daily Camera newspaper that Karson was "issued a summary suspension pending the outcome of a judicial-affairs review."

He has been charged with a class 3 misdemeanor punishable of interfering with students or faculty of an educational institution punishable by up to six months in prison and up to a $750 fine.