Feds arrest ex-UNM student for threats

Man claims he was just ‘ranting’ on social media about assassinations, mass shootings

A former University of New Mexico student is in federal custody after being arrested in Arizona for making threats to kill President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and threatening a mass shooting at UNM.

David Michael Hanson is set for a detention hearing in federal court in Phoenix on Feb. 1.

Hanson is charged with making threats against Biden and Harris and making interstate threats on social media in November and December. On Dec. 22, he allegedly threatened to commit a “school massacre” at UNM on the social media platform X.

The Secret Service soon after confronted Hanson at a shelter in downtown Phoenix, where he said “he was just ranting in the moment on a platform that nobody follows,” states a federal criminal complaint filed earlier this week.

The complaint quoted him as saying that when he posted about the mass shooting at UNM and the assassinations, he was trying to bring “attention to his plight.” He considered Phoenix to be “hell,” he said, and just wanted to get to “heaven.”

He went on to say he didn’t wish to harm anyone at the university nor Biden or Harris, the criminal complaint stated.

“When asked about the threat to commit a mass shooting on the campus of the University of New Mexico, Hanson stated that earlier in the year he was taking a film class on that campus and had applied to a master’s program there,” the criminal complaint states.

Hanson reported that he had been admitted and had been given both student loans and a scholarship for that master’s program.

“However, prior to the start of the semester Hanson had been involved in an incident with a female student who made a formal complaint” about him.

As a result, the university “pulled” his admission and his student loans, he told the Secret Service.

Cinnamon Blair, a UNM spokeswoman, told the Journal on Friday that after learning of the online threats, UNM worked

with UNM Police and other law enforcement agencies to identify the level of danger to the community.

“It was quickly established that the individual making threats was not in the state of New Mexico and did not have the means to carry out any threats,” she said.

The UNM police department was kept apprised of his whereabouts by other law enforcement agencies, as well as any actions being taken, she said.

Hanson isn’t currently enrolled at UNM, and has attended sporadically over a number of years. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 2004, and was enrolled as a student during the 2023 fall semester.