Student admits fabricating tale of campus gunman, police say
Mar. 5, 2008
Eric Ferreri - McClatchy NewspapersIssue date: 2/28/08 Section: MCT News
RALEIGH, N.C. _ In the end, the lies piled up too fast for Matthew W. Haney to handle.
The Appalachian State University senior's attempt to avoid paying for a damaged apartment door led him to fabricate a story of a masked gunman in a Pink Floyd T-shirt running toward the Boone, N.C., campus, police say. That prompted authorities to lock down the college for more than an hour Monday evening.
Haney's lies then continued with a series of television interviews. It wasn't until Tuesday morning, when he was grilled by a Boone detective, that Haney conceded that it had all been a hoax _ a creative yarn that got away from him.
"If embarrassment could be measured on a scale, it would be off the charts," said Matt Stevens, the Boone police detective who elicited Haney's confession. "He did not think this could happen."
The 22-year-old English major will likely be charged later this week with filing a false police report, Stevens said. Haney faces a campus judicial hearing as well.
Police say Haney found damage to the door of his off-campus apartment Monday afternoon. Fearing he'd be fined for it, he told his apartment manager that he had been burglarized and that the door must have been damaged then. The manager suggested that Haney call police, so the student told authorities his tale of an armed intruder with a dark mask, a Pink Floyd T-shirt and red-and-green shoes who fled in the direction of the Appalachian State campus.
The campus of more than 14,000 students was shut down quickly. Police also received reports from others on campus of a man who fit the general description of the alleged gunman _ a six-foot-tall man in a white T-shirt _ but without a mask or gun.
Meanwhile, reporters arrived at Haney's door, and he was happy to talk.
"All I did was, as soon as I saw the gun, I ran," he told WRAL-TV of Raleigh.
Given the chance to end the madness, Haney instead fed it, Stevens said.
"He had chances to stop it," the detective said. "There were so many points, I'm sure he's kicking himself. If it was simply an innocent mistake, he could have rectified it."
The Appalachian State University senior's attempt to avoid paying for a damaged apartment door led him to fabricate a story of a masked gunman in a Pink Floyd T-shirt running toward the Boone, N.C., campus, police say. That prompted authorities to lock down the college for more than an hour Monday evening.
Haney's lies then continued with a series of television interviews. It wasn't until Tuesday morning, when he was grilled by a Boone detective, that Haney conceded that it had all been a hoax _ a creative yarn that got away from him.
"If embarrassment could be measured on a scale, it would be off the charts," said Matt Stevens, the Boone police detective who elicited Haney's confession. "He did not think this could happen."
The 22-year-old English major will likely be charged later this week with filing a false police report, Stevens said. Haney faces a campus judicial hearing as well.
Police say Haney found damage to the door of his off-campus apartment Monday afternoon. Fearing he'd be fined for it, he told his apartment manager that he had been burglarized and that the door must have been damaged then. The manager suggested that Haney call police, so the student told authorities his tale of an armed intruder with a dark mask, a Pink Floyd T-shirt and red-and-green shoes who fled in the direction of the Appalachian State campus.
The campus of more than 14,000 students was shut down quickly. Police also received reports from others on campus of a man who fit the general description of the alleged gunman _ a six-foot-tall man in a white T-shirt _ but without a mask or gun.
Meanwhile, reporters arrived at Haney's door, and he was happy to talk.
"All I did was, as soon as I saw the gun, I ran," he told WRAL-TV of Raleigh.
Given the chance to end the madness, Haney instead fed it, Stevens said.
"He had chances to stop it," the detective said. "There were so many points, I'm sure he's kicking himself. If it was simply an innocent mistake, he could have rectified it."
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