Man accused of threatening to shoot students at University of Miami, middle school released on bond

MIAMI – A 21-year-old student sent an e-mail to CanesWear at Miami FanWear in Davie threatening to commit mass murder at the University of Miami in Coral Gables and at a middle school in Miami, police said.

Investigators identified the student as Kenny Espaillat, who withdrew from UM on March 18. They learned he had arrived at Miami International Airport from the Dominican Republic on Jan. 1.

“I will begin my dream with a mass shooting at the University of Miami,” he wrote in Spanish, adding he also wanted to “shoot the kids to the head” at Shenandoah Middle School and to set a fire at MIA because he hates flying, according to the arrest form.

FBI agents and police officers responded to Espaillat’s apartment on Coral Way on Jan. 2. After talking to him about the threats made on Jan. 1st from his phone in the Dominican Republic, they decided to take him to Jackson Memorial Hospital for a mental health evaluation and treatment, police said.

Records show officers arrested him on Friday at the Jackson Behavioral Health Hospital and he was released on a $10,000 bond on Saturday. Espaillat is facing a charge of a written threat to kill or do bodily harm and his arraignment hearing is at 9 a.m. on Feb. 7.

6 p.m. report

Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Guadalupe Monarrez contributed to this report.


About the Authors:

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.

Janine Stanwood joined Local 10 News in February 2004 as an assignment editor. She is now a general assignment reporter. Before moving to South Florida from her Washington home, Janine was the senior legislative correspondent for a United States senator on Capitol Hill.