BROOKINGS – A South Dakota State University student is being held on a $25,000 cash-only bond after police say he told fellow students he was going to “shoot up the school,” according to an SDSU Police Department memorandum of arrest.

Alexander Benjamin Peterson, 19, was arrested Feb. 28 on six counts of simple assault and a terrorist threat charge.

Peterson is being held at the Brookings County Detention Center and made his initial appearance in Brookings County Circuit Court Monday. His preliminary hearing is set for March 19.

Residence hall directors told police that multiple Pierson Hall residents told them Peterson “had access to guns and said he was going to shoot up the school.”

The memorandum says the students reported Peterson making “multiple comments about shooting them and that Peterson created a Snap Chat group where he posted a meme about blowing up the school.”

Court documents describe the meme as a picture of a woman wearing a hijab, and it stated, “When a white kid shoots up the school the same day you planned to bomb it.”

Peterson also said he felt like jumping off a cliff and threatened to break out truck windows, according to court documents.

The UPD report says Peterson told the other students he was “suspended from school last year,” and the Flandreau Police Department reported that Peterson had made comments before about violent acts toward his high school there.

All the students interviewed by the UPD said they were afraid for their lives and believed Peterson had means to commit the crimes he threatened.

SDSU spokesman Mike Lockrem said the university could not comment on an ongoing investigation, but “certainly we appreciate the students raising the awareness of this and getting the right people involved to ensure the safety and security of our campus.”

Contact Jill Fier at jfier@brookingsregister.com.