A 21-year-old man who made a joke about shooting up Fort Lewis College as part of a social media post pleaded guilty Tuesday to interference with staff, faculty or students of an educational institution.
Bailey Hannan of Golden said the Snapchat video was intended for his girlfriend and was never intended to be viewed by a wider audience. He said he is embarrassed by his actions.
“I am deeply sorry to everybody for what I posted to Snapchat,” he said Tuesday by video conference in La Plata County Court.
In accordance with a plea agreement, Hannan will be placed on supervised probation for one year. The misdemeanor conviction will be wiped from his record if he successfully completes terms of his probation, which include no violations of the law, completing 50 hours of community service and writing a letter of apology to FLC. He faces up to 18 months in jail if he can’t abide by the terms of his probation.
Hannan and his girlfriend had a game in which they posted potentially embarrassing videos of each other on Snapchat, said 6th Judicial District Attorney Christian Champagne.
In the post, Hannan had a video of his girlfriend headbanging. He set that to loud metal music with a caption underneath that said, “FLC getting shot up tomorrow,” Champagne said.
“He thought it would be a funny joke to post that to ... their group of friends to try to embarrass her,” Champagne said.
At least one person was alarmed by the video and sent it to authorities out of an abundance of caution, he said.
Authorities treated it as a legitimate threat, which was appropriate considering the amount school violence and mass shootings that occur on almost a daily basis across the country, Champagne said.
“It’s just not something anybody should ever joke about, and Mr. Hannan learned that in a very difficult way,” he said.
The video set off an hourslong response that included an extensive search of the Durango area for Hannan and his girlfriend. Hannan was found and arrested at gunpoint shortly before noon Dec. 15 at the Everyday gas station near College Drive and East Eighth Avenue.
FLC called off classes for the day, which was during finals week. Some final exams had to be rescheduled, which required some students and faculty members to rebook their plane tickets ahead of the winter break, according to a victim-impact statement submitted to the court by the college.
Other students were emotionally affected, especially those who had experienced similar threats or actual acts of violence in school settings, according to the victim-impact statement. FLC’s graduation was only two days away, and some families felt concerned for their safety on campus.
“Bailey Hannan’s threat of violence against Fort Lewis College was a difficult and unsettling experience for not only the students and employees of FLC but the greater Durango community and other institutions of education across the state of Colorado,” FLC wrote in its victim-impact statement, which was read Tuesday in court. “Threats and actual acts of violence in school settings have tremendous ripple effects across communities – these scenarios are not laughing matters.”
Hannan is studying mechanical engineering at Colorado School of Mines but has since been suspended, said his defense attorney, Hillary Aizenman of Boulder. In addition to writing a letter of apology and completing community service, Hannan must abide by whatever disciplinary actions School of Mines imposes, according to the plea agreement.
Hannan planned to show the post to his girlfriend and then delete it; he never intended for anyone else to see it, Aizenman said.
She called his actions an “impulsive decision” and “a severe lapse of judgment.”
La Plata County Judge Annie Woods said threats of gun violence are not something anyone takes lightly, but Hannan has taken accountability and shown he understands the seriousness of the situation.
“What you did here was horrible, and you know that,” she said.
shane@durangoherald.com
