A felony complaint has been filed in Nicollet County District Court against former Gustavus student Timothy Shay. According to the complaint, Shay is accused of stealing two chemicals from a classroom in Nobel Hall with the intent to make an explosive device.

According to public records obtained by The Weekly from the St. Peter Police Department (SPPD), on Jan. 29, 2010, Shay was suspended from Gustavus on academic grounds. He then sent an e-mail to two College staff members that they believed constituted a threat.

Later that night, a classmate of Shay’s contacted Campus Safety and told officers that Shay stole chemicals from a classroom to make an explosive known as lead azide. Shay was issued a trespass warning as a result.

At that point, Director of Campus Safety Ray Thrower requested permission for an administrative search, a rarely used power that allows Campus Safety to search a student’s residence. According to Thrower, there have been just four such requests in 13 years, and the request has only been granted three times. That search did not result in the discovery of any chemicals.

According to police records, on Feb. 4, 2010, Shay’s family arrived to pack his belongings. At that time, a Campus Safety officer stationed in the room saw the container holding the chemicals. The chemicals—lead nitrate and sodium azide—were mixed with water in preparation to combine them, and they were contained in separate vials submerged in water and separated by wax paper. The chemicals were taken to a secure area in Nobel Hall and tested to determine that they were, in fact, the stolen chemicals.

Associate Professor of Chemistry Jeff Jeremiason said that the amount of chemicals in the container would make about 4.5 grams of lead azide. According to police reports, that amount “would cause significant damage if ignited in a small confined area (such as a mailbox … or even in a dorm room filled with furniture, etc).”

Shay learned about the explosive compound in Assistant Professor of Chemistry Amanda Nienow’s January Interim Experience Forensic Science class. It was during a class lab that Shay apparently took the chemicals used to make the compound.

After class, the chemicals were locked in the chemical storage area, and on further investigation it was not possible to determine how much, if any, of the chemicals were taken. According to Nienow, the chemistry department is currently reevaluating the procedures to take chemicals in and out of the storeroom.

Editor’s Note: Information for this article—including the student’s name and the events described—was obtained from records made public under the Minnesota Data Practices Act. Look for more information in next week’s issue of The Weekly.