Campus Alert Archive
UC Berkeley

A student's early-morning email threatens to shoot two staff members

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CAworkplace violenceemergency notificationhigh confidence
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Confirmed Threat

Just before 6 AM on April 21, 2022, UC Berkeley student Lamar Bursey sent an email to multiple staff members threatening to shoot two of them, writing that '2 people on this email will get shot.' The threat prompted a campus-wide shelter-in-place order that lasted several hours while UC Berkeley police searched for Bursey, who had been placed on academic suspension the week before.

Alerts
3
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
University of California, Berkeley
Public R1 · CA
All UC Berkeley cases →
~45,700 studentsWarnMe
Official alert policy
Read when and how UC Berkeley says it will use WarnMe: summarized, quoted, and analyzed.
Documented Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence · 3 verified verbatim

Confirmed wording is transcribed character-for-character from a primary source. Use Verify this quote under each message to open that source in a new tab and compare the text yourself.

INITIAL ALERTMulti-channel
Verified verbatim85 chars
UC Berkeley WarnMe: Shelter in place: go inside and move away from doors and windows.
Verify this quote
Berkeley News (UC Berkeley's official news site), reproducing the WarnMe shelter-in-place alert textnews.berkeley.edufind archived copies
UCPD issued the alert at 9:30 AM PDT after receiving Bursey's threatening email, which named two specific staff members and said he would be on campus that day between 9 AM and 4 PM
The alert did not name the suspect or the threatened staff by name, consistent with the university's practice of withholding victim-identifying detail from a mass notification
WarnMe was set to send follow-up updates roughly every 15 minutes as the search continued
ALL CLEARMulti-channel
Verified verbatim241 chars
UC Berkeley WarnMe: The shelter in place has been lifted. Please leave the campus in a safe and orderly way via the closest route available. UCPD has determined based upon its investigation that it is appropriate to end the shelter in place.
Verify this quote
Berkeley News, reproducing the WarnMe message lifting the shelter-in-place ordernews.berkeley.edufind archived copies
Sent after UC Berkeley police located and arrested Bursey off-campus at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland
Buildings remained locked and in-person classes and services stayed canceled for the rest of the day even after the shelter-in-place itself was lifted
Message elements

How the first alert is built

To check this alert, Claude (an AI) read it in full 25 separate times, independently. Each read decided whether the message answers each of the six questions and gave a short reason. A final reviewer then weighed all 25 and wrote the plain-English verdict you see when you open a row. The score (for example 22/25) is how many reads agreed; the 25 individual reads are tucked underneath if you want to check them.

UC Berkeley WarnMe: Shelter in place: go inside and move away from doors and windows.

  • Sourcepresent25/25

    Final assessment

    All reads agree the 'UC Berkeley WarnMe' branded signature clearly identifies the sending system, unanimously present.

    Who is sending the alert and who is responding. People act faster on a message from a clearly identifiable, credible sender, such as a named department, the police, or a branded alert system, than on an anonymous notice. A branded signature counts.

    See all 25 individual reads
    1. present: Begins 'UC Berkeley WarnMe:' naming the sender system.
    2. present: Branded "UC Berkeley WarnMe" signature.
    3. present: 'UC Berkeley WarnMe' identifies the sending system.
    4. present: Branded 'UC Berkeley WarnMe' signature.
    5. present: Signed 'UC Berkeley WarnMe'.
    6. present: Signed "UC Berkeley WarnMe."
    7. present: 'UC Berkeley WarnMe' branded signature.
    8. present: Branded signature "UC Berkeley WarnMe".
    9. present: 'UC Berkeley WarnMe' branded signature identifies sender
    10. present: Signed 'UC Berkeley WarnMe'.
    11. present: Signed 'UC Berkeley WarnMe'.
    12. present: 'UC Berkeley WarnMe' branded signature identifies sender.
    13. present: 'UC Berkeley WarnMe' branded signature.
    14. present: 'UC Berkeley WarnMe' branded signature.
    15. present: Labeled 'UC Berkeley WarnMe' identifying the alert system.
    16. present: Signed 'UC Berkeley WarnMe' as branded sender.
    17. present: Signed 'UC Berkeley WarnMe' identifying the alert system
    18. present: Signed 'UC Berkeley WarnMe' identifying sender.
    19. present: Signed "UC Berkeley WarnMe".
    20. present: Branded 'UC Berkeley WarnMe' signature identifies the sender.
    21. present: Signed 'UC Berkeley WarnMe:' identifying the alert system.
    22. present: 'UC Berkeley WarnMe' identifies the system.
    23. present: Branded 'UC Berkeley WarnMe' signature.
    24. present: Signed 'UC Berkeley WarnMe'.
    25. present: Branded 'UC Berkeley WarnMe' signature.
  • Hazardabsent0/25

    Final assessment

    All reads agree no specific threat is named, only the instruction to shelter in place, unanimously absent.

    What the threat actually is. A complete warning names the specific danger, such as a shooter, a fire, a tornado, or a gas leak, rather than a vague emergency, because people decide what to do based on what they are facing.

    See all 25 individual reads
    1. absent: No specific threat named, just 'shelter in place' instruction.
    2. absent: No specific hazard named, only instructs to shelter.
    3. absent: No specific threat named, only the instruction to shelter.
    4. absent: No specific hazard named, only the instruction to shelter in place.
    5. absent: No hazard named, only the instruction to shelter.
    6. absent: No specific hazard named, only the instruction to shelter.
    7. absent: No specific threat named, only 'shelter in place' instruction.
    8. absent: No specific threat named, only instructs sheltering.
    9. absent: No hazard named, only the shelter instruction
    10. absent: No specific threat named, only generic instruction to shelter.
    11. absent: No specific threat named, only instructs to shelter in place.
    12. absent: No specific threat named, only the directive.
    13. absent: No specific hazard named, only 'shelter in place' instruction.
    14. absent: No specific hazard named, only instructs sheltering.
    15. absent: No specific threat named, only the shelter-in-place instruction itself.
    16. absent: No specific hazard named, only the protective action 'shelter in place'.
    17. absent: No specific threat named, only the instruction to shelter
    18. absent: No specific hazard named, only the instruction to shelter.
    19. absent: No specific threat is named, only an instruction to shelter.
    20. absent: No specific threat is named, only the protective action itself.
    21. absent: No specific threat named, just instructs shelter in place.
    22. absent: No specific threat named, only instruction.
    23. absent: No specific threat named, only instructs to shelter.
    24. absent: No specific hazard named, only the shelter instruction.
    25. absent: No specific threat named, only instructs to shelter.
  • Locationabsent0/25

    Final assessment

    All reads agree no place, building, or area is specified anywhere in the message, unanimously absent.

    Where the threat is. Saying whether danger is in a specific building, a part of campus, or area-wide lets people judge their own proximity and choose a safe direction. Without a where, a warning is hard to act on precisely.

    See all 25 individual reads
    1. absent: No place specified.
    2. absent: No specific location given beyond implied campus-wide.
    3. absent: No location given.
    4. absent: No location given, just general instruction.
    5. absent: No location specified.
    6. absent: No location given.
    7. absent: No specific place named.
    8. absent: No building, address, or campus reference given.
    9. absent: No specific place named
    10. absent: No location specified.
    11. absent: No location given.
    12. absent: No location specified.
    13. absent: No location given.
    14. absent: No location given.
    15. absent: No place mentioned in the text.
    16. absent: No location given.
    17. absent: No location given
    18. absent: No location given.
    19. absent: No place is mentioned.
    20. absent: No location given beyond generic instruction.
    21. absent: No location specified.
    22. absent: No location given.
    23. absent: No location given.
    24. absent: No location given.
    25. absent: No place specified.
  • Guidancepresent25/25

    Final assessment

    All reads agree the message gives explicit protective action, to go inside and move away from doors and windows, unanimously present.

    The protective action to take. A clear, specific instruction, such as shelter in place, evacuate, avoid the area, or run-hide-fight, drives faster and more correct protective behavior than describing the threat alone.

    See all 25 individual reads
    1. present: Instructs 'go inside and move away from doors and windows'.
    2. present: Instructs "go inside and move away from doors and windows".
    3. present: 'go inside and move away from doors and windows'.
    4. present: 'go inside and move away from doors and windows' is explicit protective action.
    5. present: Instructs 'go inside and move away from doors and windows'.
    6. present: Instructs "go inside and move away from doors and windows."
    7. present: Instructs 'go inside and move away from doors and windows'.
    8. present: Instructs "go inside and move away from doors and windows".
    9. present: 'Shelter in place: go inside and move away from doors and windows' instructs action
    10. present: Instructs to 'go inside and move away from doors and windows'.
    11. present: Tells recipients to go inside, move away from doors and windows.
    12. present: 'go inside and move away from doors and windows'.
    13. present: Instructs to go inside, move away from doors/windows.
    14. present: Instructs to go inside and move away from doors and windows.
    15. present: Instructs to go inside and move away from doors and windows.
    16. present: Instructs to shelter in place and move away from doors/windows.
    17. present: Instructs to 'go inside and move away from doors and windows'
    18. present: 'Shelter in place: go inside and move away from doors and windows.'
    19. present: Instructs to go inside and move away from doors and windows.
    20. present: Instructs to go inside and move away from doors and windows.
    21. present: Instructs to 'go inside and move away from doors and windows'.
    22. present: 'Shelter in place: go inside and move away from doors and windows.'
    23. present: Instructs to go inside, move away from doors and windows.
    24. present: Instructs 'go inside and move away from doors and windows'.
    25. present: Instructs to 'go inside and move away from doors and windows'.
  • Timeabsent0/25

    Final assessment

    All reads agree no time or recency marker of any kind is given, unanimously absent.

    When the message applies. A timestamp, the word now or immediately, or a phrase like until further notice tells the reader whether the danger is current and how quickly to act.

    See all 25 individual reads
    1. absent: No time reference given.
    2. absent: No time or recency marker given.
    3. absent: No time reference given.
    4. absent: No time or recency marker present.
    5. absent: No time or recency marker given.
    6. absent: No time or recency reference given.
    7. absent: No time or recency marker given.
    8. absent: No time, date, or recency indicator given.
    9. absent: No time reference given
    10. absent: No time or recency indicator given.
    11. absent: No time or recency marker given.
    12. absent: No time or recency reference given.
    13. absent: No time or recency reference.
    14. absent: No time reference given.
    15. absent: No time or recency indicator given.
    16. absent: No time or recency indicator given.
    17. absent: No time or recency marker given
    18. absent: No time or recency marker given.
    19. absent: No time or recency marker is given.
    20. absent: No time or recency indicator present.
    21. absent: No time or recency marker given.
    22. absent: No time or recency indicator.
    23. absent: No time reference given.
    24. absent: No time or recency indicator given.
    25. absent: No time or recency marker given.
  • Impactabsent0/25

    Final assessment

    All reads agree no consequence or severity is stated anywhere in the message, unanimously absent.

    What the hazard could do to the people in its path. Beyond naming the threat, a complete warning conveys its potential consequences or severity, such as that a tornado can level buildings or that a leak could be explosive, so recipients grasp how much danger they are in. Research on warning message content finds that a concrete impact statement helps people personalize their risk and act sooner.

    See all 25 individual reads
    1. absent: No stated consequence or severity.
    2. absent: No stated consequence or severity.
    3. absent: No consequence stated.
    4. absent: No consequence or severity stated.
    5. absent: No consequence stated.
    6. absent: No stated consequence or severity.
    7. absent: No stated consequence given.
    8. absent: No stated consequence or severity.
    9. absent: No stated consequence
    10. absent: No stated consequence or severity.
    11. absent: No stated consequence or severity.
    12. absent: No stated consequence or severity.
    13. absent: No stated consequence.
    14. absent: No stated consequence or severity.
    15. absent: No consequence or severity conveyed.
    16. absent: No stated potential harm.
    17. absent: No stated consequence or severity
    18. absent: No stated consequence or severity.
    19. absent: No stated consequence.
    20. absent: No stated consequence or severity.
    21. absent: No consequence or severity stated.
    22. absent: No stated consequence or severity.
    23. absent: No stated consequence.
    24. absent: No stated harm or consequence.
    25. absent: No stated harm or severity.

Systematic AI judgments with visible reasoning, not human-validated codings.

About this analysis
Context

Background

UC Berkeley's WarnMe emergency notification system pushed the campus into a multi-hour shelter-in-place on April 21, 2022 after a member of the campus community made direct, specific threats to shoot staff. According to Berkeleyside, student Lamar Bursey, who had been placed on academic suspension the previous week, emailed multiple staff members just before 6 AM saying '2 people on this email will get shot' and that he had slept outside the day before and would be 'in the office' from 9 AM to 4 PM. UCPD activated a shelter-in-place order at 9:30 AM, directing students, staff, and faculty to go inside, stay away from doors and windows, and await updates roughly every 15 minutes while Facilities Services locked buildings across campus. Police searched for Bursey for several hours before locating and arresting him off-campus at a hospital in Oakland around 2 PM without incident. Prosecutors charged Bursey with two counts of felony criminal threats. Because the threat named specific staff by their role rather than the wider student body, the incident is classified here as workplace violence: a targeted threat against particular employees carried out through a university email account and requiring the entire institution to shelter in place.
Analysis

Key Findings

The threat was directed at two named staff members by email, not the student body generally, making this an employee-targeted workplace-violence threat rather than a generalized campus threat
UCPD's WarnMe alert withheld both the suspect's name and the threatened staffers' identities from the initial shelter-in-place message, publishing only the protective instruction
The shelter-in-place lasted roughly five hours, from 9:30 AM until the suspect's arrest off-campus around 2 PM, with periodic WarnMe updates in between
The suspect had been placed on academic suspension a week before sending the threatening email, a documented precipitating grievance
Outcome
Lamar Bursey, of Hayward, was located and arrested without incident at a hospital in Oakland around 2 PM the same day. He was charged with two counts of felony criminal threats.
Provenance

Sources

Every claim on this page is meant to be checkable. Open the links below (and the Verify this quote control under each confirmed alert) to read the original university, news, or archive page yourself. Hostnames are shown so you can see where you are going; archived copies survive when live pages move or disappear. See also our methodology.

  1. Official
    Campus shelter in place lifted (Berkeley News, UC Berkeley's official news site)
    news.berkeley.edu
    archived copy
  2. News
    UCPD: Student's threats to shoot UC Berkeley staff led to lockdown (Berkeleyside)
    berkeleyside.org
    archived copy
  3. News
    Criminal Charges Filed Against UC Berkeley Student Whose Alleged Threats Prompted Campus Lockdown (KQED)
    kqed.org
    archived copy
  4. News
    UC Berkeley student charged for threatening to shoot school staffers, prompting lockdown (CBS San Francisco)
    cbsnews.com
    archived copy
Cite this case

Campus Alert Archive. "University of California, Berkeley: A student's early-morning email threatens to shoot two staff members." Incident of April 21, 2022. Added July 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/uc-berkeley-staff-shooting-threat-2022-04-21/

Download case JSON

Alert text quoted on this page remains the work of the issuing institution; the archive is a secondary source.

Tags
workplace-violenceuc-berkeleycaliforniawarnmeshelter-in-placetargeted-threatstaff-targetedpublic-r1
Added July 2026Updated July 2026Via ingestion