Advisory - Threat to Commit a Crime

On April 11, 2017 at approximately 11:20 p.m., the University of Massachusetts Amherst Police Department responded to Coolidge Hall to investigate a bomb threat made against a student and the campus. There is no indication that anyone in or near the building was in any actual danger of being harmed. An arrest was promptly made, and the matter remains under investigation. The suspect is not a student or an employee of UMass. Details of the incident are being released in coordination with the Northwestern District Attorney’s investigation.
Abdul F. Ismail, 27, of Hadley, was arraigned today in Eastern Hampshire District Court on charges of making a bomb threat (in violation of General Laws c. 269, sec. 14) and threatening to commit a crime (in violation of General Laws c. 275, sec. 2). He was ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing scheduled for Tuesday, April 18, 2017. He will be held at the Hampshire County House of Correction in the meantime. Ismail was arrested early on the morning of April 12 by UMass Police, assisted by Hadley Police, at Ismail’s residence in Hadley. This followed a UMass Police investigation of verbal threats Ismail allegedly made on the evening of April 11 while visiting a UMass student in Coolidge Hall. Upon hearing the threatening comments, the student escorted Ismail from the building and promptly contacted authorities. The suspect has also been immediately trespassed from the UMass campus for two years by UMass Police.

CA # 03-17-7970