BOULDER, Colo. (KDVR) — A restraining order from California outlines the reasons why a man arrested in Boulder Tuesday was not able to purchase a firearm.
Matthew Christopher Harris was detained after a standoff with police. Boulder police said he sent out an extremely violent manifesto to people at the University of California Los Angeles campus where he once worked. In a more than 800-page rambling document, there are thousands of references of homicidal violence including at school settings.
“It was very violent, and it was very disturbing,” Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said.
Police at UCLA tipped off the Boulder Police Department Monday night. Harris was a professor at UCLA and had a protection order filed against him for allegedly threatening a coworker.
The district attorney of Boulder County said the California protection order prevented Harris from buying a gun in Jefferson County in November. With more than one state at play, the federal authorities are also on the case.
“Federal investigative resources are being brought to bear on this matter,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado Cole Finegan said.
But what was he doing in Boulder? Herold was asked about the connection.
“We have not made connections yet across states, and that’s why we have federal partners looking at this as well,” Herold said in response.
State and federal charges are being considered, officials said. Exact charges have not yet been publicly released.
Suspect’s history of threats
According to a restraining order obtained by FOX31, the Regents of the University of California asked for a protection order on behalf of one of its employees and another coworker.
The order accused Harris of sending emails in April 2020 to his mother, threatening to murder a UCLA employee. The subject line of the email said “Plans to murder” naming a specific employee. The subject line said he would murder the employee with a semi-automatic rifle for giving him schizophrenia.
“… I can hunt this b—— down and put bullets in her skull,” he wrote, suggesting that he would be moving to UC Irvine’s campus to do so. He also wrote that his psychiatrist told him he had schizophrenia. And “ … I’m ready to go Chris dorner on these white people.”
His mom sounded the alarm with that email to protect others.
The manifesto is divided into various sections called books where Harris dives into what he called “Worldwide Extinction of All Species” and “Only Man Alive is Matthew C. Harris.”
Harris has a prolific online presence, with online videos that included rants with racist language, videos featuring someone playing shooting video games or racing games with a male’s voice narrating, and unusual commentary in which Harris was sometimes featured speaking into a microphone or shouting.
Herold said police officers had had previous contact with Harris in October, but no criminal activity was taking place, and Harris was not arrested.