A man entered the SF State library from Holloway Avenue on the afternoon of Nov. 25 carrying multiple bags and reportedly threatened to “blow up” people within the library, according to an email by Chief of Police Reginald Parson. 

Six minutes after the threats were first reported, UPD arrived on scene and arrested 55-year-old Spencer Hughes, the man in question, on the first floor of the library and removed him from the property. 

UPD then ordered an evacuation of the building and requested assistance from the SFPD Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit, who determined the bag was safe roughly an hour later. 

Hughes was, “was booked on two felony counts of criminal threats at the San Francisco County Main Jail,” according to the email by Parson. Police did not confirm what was in the bag.

UPD did not find any connection between Hughes and SF State and no motive was determined, but he was also detained in the same building less than a month ago. On the afternoon of Oct. 27, Hughes reportedly brandished a knife to an individual at the library. The individual then performed a citizen’s arrest, but did not physically restrain Hughes, according to Deputy Chief Wailun Shiu. 

Shiu could not comment on what incited Hughes to pull the knife. 

Responding UPD officers cited Hughes for brandishing a deadly weapon, escorted him off the property, then released him.

California Penal Code 417(a)(1), the code that UPD used to cite Hughes for the knife, states that perpetrators must be held “in a county jail for not less than 30 days.”

Shiu declined to comment on why Hughes was released. Similar to the bomb threat, UPD could not determine a motive for this incident.