A “suicidal” Cornell University engineering student arrested for threatening to kill Jews on campus apparently delivered his vows of violence online from his mother’s home, where he was staying on weekends because he was “worried about his mental health.”
Patrick Dai’s mother, Bing Liu, spoke tearfully at her home outside Rochester about how she worried for her son’s well-being before his arrest in an interview with the city’s Democrat and Chronicle Tuesday.
“Because I’m worried about his mental health, every Friday after his studies … I go to Cornell to bring him home, then I’ll bring him back Sunday night,” he told the newspaper.
Dai, 21, was arrested by the feds on Halloween after he threatened to shoot up a dining hall that housed Jewish students and kill other Jews with an “assault rifle.” He allegedly made the threats in late October from his home.
The incident comes after the Ivy League campus in leafy Ithaca, NY, was unsettled in the wake of antisemitic graffiti that surfaced after a professor said he found the October 7 Hamas attack “exhilarating.”
Bing Liu (left), mother of Patrick Dai, leaves federal court with her son’s attorney in Syracuse last Wednesday. AP Ibu Dai partly blames her son on Lexapro. Stephen Yang
Liu claims her son’s threats were partly triggered by his use of the anti-depressant Lexapro – which actually made him more depressed – and fears he now has “no future” after facing five years in federal prison for sending threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications.
Liu chided the Justice Department for not mentioning that Dai apologized for his promise of mass killing in an online post hours later.
“Sorry,” the post reportedly began. “There is no room for divisive remarks in person or online. I am sorry.”
Dai, 21, is accused of threatening to kill his Jewish classmate at Cornell. Broome County Sheriff’s Office/AFP via Getty Images
The letter goes on to call his threats against his “innocent” classmates “disgraceful,” and is signed off as “suicidally depressed.”
“Why didn’t they reveal this important information?” asked his mother. “Besides, why not school?”
Liu – who studied in Israel decades ago and displays a Star of David in his home – claimed to be “shocked” to read about his son’s admitted threats and said he hasn’t slept since.
He told the outlet that he was concerned Dai was not getting treatment for his depression at the Broome County jail.
Dai’s mother said she would pick her son up after class on Friday and take him home because she was concerned about his mental well-being. Stephen Yang
“I’m worried about him,” Liu said. “He needs to take medicine.”
School officials last week called for Dai to be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” and Monica Gebel, executive director of the Levine Center to End Hate at the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester, told the newspaper that Dai should be held fully accountable, even though he apologized.
“The Israel-Hamas war has fueled online violence against Jews and Muslims and with misinformation behind the message that blatant mainstreaming of hatred is now acceptable,” he said of his fears.
Dai is accused of making threats from his mother’s house. Stephen Yang’s mother Dai said she is concerned he is not getting treatment for his depression at the Broome County jail.Stephen Yang
“I think we’ve really entered an era where harassment and open hate speech against Jewish students is now mainstream and student antisemitism is no longer something that people hide,” Gebel said of his reaction to the threats.
The Anti-Defamation League said Sunday there has been a 388% increase in harassment and attacks against Jews in the US since war broke out in the region a month ago.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
