Bomb threat at UCL Science Library

The UCL Science Library, Petrie Museum and Malet Place were evacuated yesterday afternoon after a manentered the library claiming to have a bomb in his backpack.

He was later apprehended by police after embarking on a strange rant in which he said he was ‘king of the universe’ and pretended to shoot at people with an imaginary gun. It is thought he entered the library around3:30pm and began asking students by the door for cigarettes. He started his speech on the ground floor, speaking in a German accent and using phrases randomly such as ‘Rick and Morty’ and stating he was ‘king of the universe and the multiverse’ and could control everything. He asked students for their computer passwords,upon which they began to laugh and he left.

He then went to the second floor where he shouted ‘is this Warsaw University’ and ‘is this Imperial or UCL’, before being asked to leave. According to one student studying there he ‘took a picture of us all and walked up and down the room, pretending to have a rifle gun and doing the Nazi salute’. It was then that he said ‘I’ve got a bomb in my backpack’ and went back downstairs, at which point many students had begun reporting him.

The students were evacuated and police were called to the scene, where they arrested the intruder and searched the library with sniffer dogs for around an hour. The library has now been re-opened and UCL have made an official statement on Twitter regarding the incident.

Photography by Hans Hu