TUCSON, AZ — A University of Arizona professor feels survivor's guilt after a colleague was shot dead by a former student after reports that red flags were missed.
“I was a target...I would have been a target,” said Professor Christopher Castro referring to the day his colleague, Thomas Meixner, was killed earlier this month.
Castro tells ABC15 he was out of town that day, otherwise, he would have likely been there in the building as the shooting happened during the class time change.
“I would have been in that hallway at that time,” Castro said.
Castro is with the Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences department and says he was repeatedly harassed by the alleged suspect since December 2021.
Castro describes the threats as implied threats using racial epithets and threatening language. However, Castro says it apparently never rose to a level of an overt threat that would have left the suspect arrested.
Castro tells ABC15 he documented the threatening messages and alerted the university — including a time when he sent a letter to the school about why he thought the suspect was going to kill him.
Castro says he forwarded that letter to his wife, saying: “You need to be aware of this concern I've raised for my personal safety, and please retain this for your records and God forbid you'd have to use it.”
On Monday, UArizona president sent a letter addressed to students and colleagues, detailing the steps university officials and campus police took "to address the threatening behavior from the former student" Murad Dervish.
"If we could have done better, we will acknowledge it and make changes," said Robbins. "But I do believe it is important for you to know that the University took action in regard to the conduct directed toward Professor Meixner and others."
According to the letter, university officials twice sought charges against Dervish with the Pima County Attorney's Office. The first attempt to seek charges came during the spring semester of this year while the second came in September.
Robbins says PCAO "declined to move forward with charges."
Pima County Attorney Laura Conover's office released a statement in response to the letter, saying, "The University of Arizona Police Department did bring two proposed misdemeanor complaints about former student Murad Dervish to our attention, and both times those concerns were given our full attention. However, in neither instance did the facts of the complaint meet the evidentiary requirements for charging him with the crime of Threats and Intimidation at that time."
Castro said he did not receive assistance from the university when he filed an order of protection against harassment against Dervish. Besides a website link on where to go to take such steps, Castro said: “The university did not assist me in any way to preparing these documents. I consulted with my personal attorney and he did it more as a friend too, but I did all of that myself.”
Castro says he did not actually interact face-to-face with Dervish much.
To Castro, Dervish was a physical threat, and that is why he said he sent the email to UArizona officials to essentially provide them with the warning.
Castro is left with survivor's guilt since he was not on campus that day, as he would have been in that same passing period.
"The difficult part for me is like the decomposition of the steps and trying to figure out where like, there could have been a successful intervention,” he said. “So going back and retracing what were the steps and what could have been done? That's very painful for me.”
A grand jury indicted Dervish on seven felony charges Tuesday including first-degree murder, aggravated assault, burglary, possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited possessor, and endangerment.
