• Printer friendly
• E-mail to a friend
• 4 comment(s)
• Recommend

  ( 0 )

• 

Former UCSB engineer Neil Baker, suspected of making threats against the university, was arrested by police at his residence in Kennewick, Wash., earlier this week.

Cube Ad

Former UCSB engineer arrested for alleged threats

By ERIC LINDBERG — Feb. 19, 2010

A former UC Santa Barbara engineer who has a history of ranting about the university has been arrested in Washington on suspicion of making threats against his former employer.

Authorities in Kennewick, Wash., took Neil P. Baker, 51, into custody on Monday after being alerted by UCSB police about emails and threatening comments the suspect allegedly posted online that referred to causing property damage and possibly taking human life.

“Baker fantasized about and contemplated killing people at UCSB and blowing up the university for sabotaging his future employment possibilities,” Kennewick Police Det. John Davis wrote in a media release. “UCSB has had lockdowns due to these threats and have posted alert bulletins on campus. Baker’s actions seemed to be escalating to a point of carrying out his plans. He calls himself the antichrist.”

A search of the suspect’s Kennewick residence turned up an assault rifle and several books detailing methods of anarchy, blowing up structures and revenge, authorities said. His online comments allegedly referred to a book titled “Going Postal,” which police officials described as covering topics including rage, murder and rebellion.

UCSB authorities had issued an alert earlier this week, referring to Baker a “person of interest” due to non-specific threats against the university and its employees.

In recent months, a poster identified as “Neil Baker” commented on a Daily Sound story about a new police chief at UCSB and referenced suspicions that the university was sabotaging his job opportunities.

“I was so angry that I could have killed them all and burned every building to the ground,” the poster wrote. “I’m no high school kid, deranged Army psychiatrist or English major with a couple of handguns; I’m a veteran engineer and a very creative one. It would have taken military air strikes to stop me and still second, third or more sorties to finally end me. UCSB would be history.”

Similar lengthy postings on other stories have labeled the university as a Mafia-controlled organization. University officials declined to comment on Baker’s arrest and referred questions to campus police, who did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.

A former university engineer from 2000 to 2004, Baker caused police to lock down the campus in 2007 after allegedly posting threatening comments online referencing a shooting at a Goleta postal facility that left six dead.

The poster reportedly hinted at staging a reenactment of the shooting at UCSB on its one-year anniversary.

“I think about it every day,” he allegedly wrote, according to a 2007 Daily Nexus story. “I’ve thought about it every day for a couple years. I still think about it. They deserve it. And I can kill a hell of a lot more than six.”

Kennewick authorities said they booked Baker for felony harassment. It’s unclear if charges have been officially filed against the 51-year-old.

In his media release, Davis noted that Baker’s alleged comments came days after an incident at Alabama University during which a professor shot and killed coworkers allegedly for being denied a promotion.

Comment on this article

Subject:

Body:

Poster:

Enter text seen above:

Crazy : 2/19/2010

Neil Baker is a nutjob. Mentally unstable and a danger to society.

---

He's on Craigslist too : 2/19/2010

He's so annoying hopefully someone in jail kicks his ass!

Zionist

---

Baker storu : 2/19/2010

Headline in print edition reads: "Former UCSB Professor..." Are you guys ever going to employ an editor and/or fact-checker? How embarrassing!

gnuz

---

Needs a Hug : 2/25/2010

Its seems so cliché for emotionally unstable people with a grudge (or victims of the Zionists as Neil sees himself) to move to Washington. It’s a place where a person can have a stash of weapons and your own homemade dungeon. I would suggest that all he really needs is a good lay, but I have a feeling his house smells like cat pee and unwashed hair. Girls aren’t really into that.

Johnny Cat

---