OREGON CITY, Ore. - An Oregon community college student was receiving a psychological evaluation after the school told authorities he posted musings online about "a killing spree."
Clackamas County sheriff's deputies asked the 23-year-old Eagle Creek man, a student at Clackamas Community College, to stop by the sheriff's office Friday -- the day after a gunman killed five people and then himself at Northern Illinois University. When he did, police took him to a hospital for a mental health evaluation, The (Portland) Oregonian reported Saturday.
Deputies said the man was cooperative and hadn't been charged with a crime. Authorities were concerned, however, about his allegedly posting comments on MySpace.com such as "Ave Maria ... would be my soundtrack for a killing spree" and "it's getting harder to not just start shooting," the newspaper reported.
The man's 62-year-old father said his son's constitutional rights had been violated.
"Are those rights real, or can they be mitigated by something you wrote on the Internet?" the father asked. "He's being detained without any kind of a criminal problem at all, with no criminal charges filed against him."
The man described his son as "an all-around nice guy" who liked playing volleyball and golf and was close to earning a two-year degree in criminal justice.
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