MSU Student Charged inĀ Terrorism Threats
Sydney Gort, a Packaging major at MSU, has been charged with making threats of terrorism on campus recently. And according to police, this isn’t the first time that she has used this particular coping skill to alleviate the stress of college.
Gort reported a terrorism threat to campus police in November, which she claimed to have found written on the wall in the women’s bathroom in the School of Packaging. They read as follows: “T-M-R-W, as ordered, we will be administering the first act of terrorism on this campus, in this building as chosen by random, striking every third girl seen. We have no choice in this matter #prayforMSU.”
It was the end of November when Gort claimed to have found the threat, and reported it to the police. But it was not long into the investigation that officers began to suspect that Gort may be more than just an innocent bystander. And that was when they discovered that this wasn’t the first time she had reported terrorism threats, and not the first time she was suspected of being behind them either.
In 2012, Gort was suspected of being behind a bomb threat that atĀ the Douglas J Aveda Institute in East Lansing. She was never charged for that incident, but the investigation turned up no other suspects, and she remained on file as a suspicious person.
Officials were certain that it was Gort behind it
Then earlier this year it happened again. Gort reported a threat that she claimed to have discovered in the packaging building bathroom, which read “How long until I blow this place up? Tick tock.” Ā Again she was a suspect, but no charges were filed. But when it happened a third time, just before Thanksgiving of this year, officials were certain that it was Gort behind it.
Gort has been charged for both of the MSU related terrorism threats, but not the threat made against the Aveda Institute. During subsequent interviews with both the FBI and the MSP, Gort admitted to making the threats, but told officers that she never intended to carry them out. She explained that it was a lapse in judgment on her part, and was the result of stress.
Gort has since been arrested and charged with two counts of making a terrorist threat, which is a 20 year felony under Michigan law. She is being held in the Ingham County Jail on a $100,000 conditional bond.
If she postsĀ bail and gets out before her next court date, she is banned from the MSU campus, must wear a GPS tether, and has a 10pm curfew. Gort will appear next in the Ingham County Court on the 18th of December.