So, like most UCD students, I got the fun little email from which read:

There was an incident at Tercero Residence Hall last night. Our Fire and Police Departments have the situation under control and there is no threat to the campus. Classes and business will continue as usual. Additional information will be posted at http://www.ucdavis.edu/.

Thank you,
U C Davis WARN Alert

So I did some research. After reading a few news stories, the Sac Bee story is the most detailed (I bold faced the interesting points below). Of course, as usual, I try to give you a little something the news leaves out so I’ve included a picture of the guy and the building (Tercero, Thille D 316) where it happened on a map for reference.

Normal class schedules are under way at UC Davis on Thursday following the arrest of an 18-year-old student after two pipe bombs were found in his dormitory room Wednesday night, authorities said.

The discovery about 9 p.m. Wednesday resulted in the evacuation of 455 freshmen from eight dormitory buildings in the Tercero complex. The students spent the night in the common dining area at the complex and are expected to be allowed to return soon. No one was injured, and classes were not disrupted by the incident.

UC Davis police said they arrested Mark Christopher Woods, 18, a freshman economics major from Torrance, on charges of possession of materials with the intent to make an explosive or destructive device, and also possession with intent to make such a device on school grounds.

Police said bomb-making materials were found on a table in the dorm room, along with two empty pipe bomb shells, and police Capt. Joyce Souza said she could not reveal what materials were found but that it was “bad stuff.”

An examination of it earlier Thursday morning showed that “the way it sits right now, it’s not as unstable as we originally thought.”

“At first glance, it looked like pretty serious and volatile material,” Souza said. “Once they did an evaluation, they were able to determine the way all the materials were sitting, it wasn’t as serious because it wasn’t mixed.”

Souza said that “there’s no reason to believe he intended at this point to blow up anything or hurt anyone on campus.”

But, she added, “anytime you get a call like this, we’re going to err on the side of caution.”

The material is expected to be packed up and moved to a U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives lab in Walnut Creek on Thursday morning. Woods is in custody on campus and is expected to be taken to the Yolo County Jail in Woodland later Thursday.

Paul Pfotenhauer, a spokesman for the UC Davis Fire Department, said the incident began shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday when a woman reported students with possible explosive devices in a dormitory room.

That led to the questioning of four students in the bedroom, including Woods. The other three students were released.

A bomb team moved in Thursday morning to assess the room where the explosives were found. Their work had been delayed because a search warrant had to be obtained before the situation could be addressed. The search warrant was not executed until about 5 a.m.

Crews had expected to decide if the explosives needed to be removed by a robot or by team members in protective suits and there were discussions of detonating the devices in a nearby field.

Before 9 a.m., however, authorities said there never was a fully assembled bomb.

“As soon as they have everything out of the room, we will be opening it all back up to the students,” said campus spokeswoman Lisa Lapin.

Acquaintances of Woods’ described him as a pleasant young man who had shown no signs of trouble, and some said they believed authorities had overreacted to the incident.

Robert Chao, an 18-year-old from San Jose who is Woods’ roommate, said he was “in the room at 6 p.m. last night and didn’t see anything like” a bomb.

Chao added that he thought the incident was “being blown way out of proportion.”

With all the recent tragedies at universities around the country, “they have reason to believe it’s one of those things, but it’s not that at all,” Chao said. “That is the opposite of what he is.”

Chao and others describe Woods as someone interested in many subjects and say he was trying to expand his knowledge with science experiments.

Woods was an academic decathlete in high school, and while he was an economics major, he also was taking classes in Russian, Japanese and statistics.

“He had no ill intent like people said he did,” Chao said.

Other students said Woods was a kind young man who escorts young female students to their dorm rooms when they go home at night.

“He’s one of the nicest guys I know,” said Lauren Bachman, 18, who lives in the dorm. “At the end of the day, I trust him.”

Other students said that while he was kind of an eccentric, he’s an intelligent young man who is not dangerous.

Despite that, authorities were taking no chances Wednesday night and ordered the evacuation.

Before students found some place to sleep, they gathered in common areas of nearby buildings and stood around, shivering in the cold. Freshman Anderson Ellis, 19, said “a lot of people have papers due tomorrow” but were unable to complete their work.

Lapin said a campus-wide notification was not issued because the substance is not an immediate threat.

She stressed that the rest of the campus is open and operating — classrooms are in use and people are going to work and school.

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