Pima Community College, where Jared L. Loughner, the suspect in Saturday’s shooting rampage in Tucson, Ariz., was a student until last October, released on Wednesday a series of documents detailing the accused gunman’s encounters with the campus police and others over the previous eight months, and showing campus officials’ concerns that he might be mentally ill or under the influence of drugs, according to news reports.
The documents give details about a number of disruptive incidents, including classroom outbursts and arguments with instructors, that raised fears of physical violence. They also discuss the college’s response to a bizarre posting on YouTube in which a narrator believed to be Mr. Loughner linked the college to the torture of students and called it his “genocide school.”
The video, which has been deleted, was posted under a pseudonym, but the narrator identified himself as “Jared ... from Pima College,” and a campus police officer who viewed it said he recognized Mr. Loughner’s voice, as well as his reflection in a window, according to reports by The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and other news organizations.
The college discovered the video on September 29, and within hours decided to suspend Mr. Loughner, pending a mental-health evaluation. He voluntarily withdrew five days later, during a meeting with college officials to discuss the conditions under which he could return.
The college had overhauled its procedures for dealing with disruptive students last year, The New York Times reported, and put in place a three-member behavior-assessment team that includes a clinical psychologist from outside the college. Campus officials would not say whether that team had discussed Mr. Loughner’s case.
Arne Duncan, the U.S. secretary of education, said this week that he believed the college had done what it could to deal with Mr. Loughner’s disruptions.
