Former SU employee arrested for ‘terroristic threats’ against hospital, admits to ESF swatting
Adam Dedrick, a former Syracuse University employee, was arrested Monday and charged with making a “terroristic threat” against Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital on Monday. Dedrick admitted to making the threats, as well as a false active shooting at SUNY ESF in April. Elizabeth Billman | Daily Orange File Photo
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.
A former Syracuse University employee was arrested and charged with making a “terroristic threat” Monday after threatening to carry out a mass shooting and bombing at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital.
The former employee, named in the court documents as 27-year-old Adam Dedrick, admitted to the threats and false active shooting report at SUNY ESF in April, according to Tuesday documents filed with the Onondaga County Supreme Court. Officers found no signs of physical bombs or any threat upon arrival, documents say.
In a Wednesday evening statement to The Daily Orange, an SU spokesperson confirmed Dedrick is no longer employed by the university. Court documents list his employer as SU.
According to the documents filed by SUNY Upstate University Police Department, Dedrick sent multiple threatening emails to the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services on Monday.
Dedrick’s email claims he planted four bombs at the hospital and warned the NYS DHS to “be prepared.” The email address appeared to have sent similar messages to SUNY ESF in April, court documents stated.
Dedrick verbally confessed to making the threats, the documents state, and told officers he threw out the phone used to send the emails. Dedrick took UUPD to the Syracuse University Physical Plant dumpster, where he said the phone was discarded.
Plant employees told officers that the dumpster had already been cleared out.
Officers filed an Extreme Risk Protection Order Tuesday against Dedrick in Onondaga County. The ERPO allows prosecutors or law enforcement to flag someone who poses a threat to themselves or others, preventing them from owning or purchasing firearms.
Officers obtained a temporary EPRO on Tuesday, according to court documents, prohibiting Derick from owning firearms and ordering him to surrender any in his possession. The order will expire on Aug. 3.
The order also allows authorities to search their home for access to weapons.
Dedrick’s parents consented to officers searching his bedroom and vehicle, where officers found sticky notes with phone numbers and explicit internet addresses written on them, according to the documents.
In October 2017, Dedrick was charged with seven counts of falsely reporting incidents, including active shooting events, over 13 days, syracuse.com reported. He had previously been charged for similar accounts in April 2017.
Dedrick is being held in the Onondaga County Justice Center with bail set at $50,000 cash or a $100,000 bond and is set to appear in court on Friday for his finalized ERPO hearing.
This post will be updated with additional reporting.
