The man wielding a knife in the library Wednesday afternoon has now been identified as Timothy Wayne Mulford. Mulford has no affiliation with the UA, said Juan Alvarez, a public information officer for the University of Arizona Police Department, in an email.
Mulford was charged with two counts of Aggravated Assault, a Class 3 felony, and three counts of Resisting Arrest, a Class 6 felony, Alvarez said. No other details were available for release.
Police received calls from people at the library regarding a man carrying a knife at about 12:27 p.m. on Wednesday, Alvarez said.
Robert Mitchell, the interim associate dean of libraries, said a young man had tripped some of the fire doors located on the third floor and was “brandishing” a knife. Mitchell also said he was told that the man made threatening gestures with the knife toward students.
Mitchell said a couple of staff members were trying to get the man out of the library and were asking him not to hurt anybody. When Mitchell heard the commotion, he stepped out of his office, and the man approached him.
“He kept saying two things to various people,” Mitchell said. “‘You’re the smart one,’ and ‘It’s not so funny now, is it?’ I’m not a doctor, I’m not an expert, but that’s not normal human behavior.”
Adriano Fabbri, a communications junior, said the man was about 15 feet away from him, pacing back and forth with a sharp object in his hand, when a librarian approached the man and said, “Sir, you need to stop, you need to come with me.”
The man told the librarian he was looking for someone, Fabbri added.
“Everyone was just packing up their stuff really frantically and the librarian was yelling at everyone to get off the third floor,” Fabbri said. “Some people didn’t pack up. Some people just, like, left their stuff.”
When the police arrived with their weapons drawn, Mitchell said the man dropped to his knees, threw the knife down and lay facedown on the floor. The police then handcuffed him, pulled him to his feet and sat him in a chair in the lobby.
Officers responded quickly and took the subject into custody without any further incident, Alvarez said. There were no injuries.
“The community recognized a potential threat, or a potential danger, they called the police and we were able to respond quickly and take control of the situation, which in this case, absolutely prevented the situation from escalating to something else,” Alvarez said.
The investigation is ongoing, and the man’s name was not released, Alvarez said, adding that it is unclear whether he was affiliated with the university.
—_ Stephanie Casanova contributed reporting to this article._