 "Photo: Courtesy of APD")
Authorities released Jason Liao, the student arrested on charges of carrying a gun on campus, from the Travis County Jail after he posted bail Saturday.
The UT Police Department arrested the undeclared engineering sophomore Tuesday for possessing a gun in a prohibited place - a third degree felony. If convicted, Liao could face two to 10 years in prison. Liao's attorney, Gordon Karchmer, said he could not comment on the case. He said he was assigned the case Thursday but had not yet met with Liao.
Liao posted bail at 7:15 p.m. Saturday, ending an approximately weeklong stay in jail, said Roger Wade, a Travis County Sheriff's Department spokesman. Wade could not say who paid the bond. Student Judicial Services could not be reached by press time to comment on Liao's status as a student. As of Sunday, he was still listed in the UT Directory.
Two witnesses saw Liao carry a gym bag with the gun stashed inside, according to the arrest warrant. In one incident, a female student saw Liao remove a gun from the bag in a Jester Dormitory room and heard him talk about "going on a mission" with another person that involved the firearm, the warrant said. The warrant also said that in another incident, Liao showed the gun to a female student in
Belmont Hall and asked her if she would like to hold it.
Undeclared freshman Sonja Le, one of the witnesses, contacted The Daily Texan by e-mail to defend Liao.
"We just want justice and a way for our voice to be his," she said. "We want to show people this guy is not dangerous."
Liao's friends began raising money to pay Liao's bail shortly after he was arrested, said John Nguyen, Liao's roommate.
"We just did a lot of phone calls," said biology, premed and Spanish junior Luis Gomez, a friend of Liao's. "Jason hangs out at the Tapioca House a lot, so we went to Tapioca House and asked a bunch of people there."
Nguyen said they collected the necessary amount to pay a bail bondsman but still needed a homeowner more than 25 years old to act as a co-signer. He said he and some other friends were going to visit Liao in jail on Sunday but found out someone had already
posted bail.
Gomez and Nguyen said friends became alarmed and confronted Liao about carrying a gun on campus about a week before he was arrested. Gomez said they told Liao to stop bring the weapon to school.
"He blew off our advice," Gomez said. "He said, 'I still don't see how this is supposed to help me.'"
Nguyen said Liao experienced an identity crisis after Liao's mother went into a coma and his father became terminally ill. Gomez said Liao often lied to try to impress people for attention. He said Liao sometimes lives in a fantasy world where he is a member of a Chinese crime syndicate.
"Anytime he likes a girl, he makes her worry," Gomez said. "He's like, 'Hey, I'm going to go on a mission involving a gun. In case something happens to me, here's my bank account number so you can bail me out.'"
Nguyen owned the handgun that Liao brought on campus but did not notice it was stolen until around the time Liao was arrested. Nguyen filed a police report that the gun was missing but did not press charges. Nguyen said Liao traded the gun for another one with a person on campus but did not know why Liao made
the swap.
Nguyen said he questioned Liao about the sale, since the handgun is registered to Nguyen's Social Security number.
"He told me that he needed to keep it away from me," Nguyen said. "I asked him what he needed it for and he told me, while he was at the apartment, that it was none of my business."
Nguyen said he met Liao two-and-a-half years ago and that the two have lived together since last summer. He said that during this time he did not experience any major conflicts with Liao and that Liao was not aggressive. Nguyen said Liao pulled up his grades over the past three semesters and was working at Sushi Niichi. Nguyen said that Liao's focus on school did not indicate a potentially deadly
incident.
Both Nguyen and Gomez said they believe Liao is not dangerous. UTPD Assistant Chief Terry McMahan said the department only enforces the law and that Liao was in violation.
"It doesn't matter what I believe, it matters what the law says," he said. "That's what I guess people don't understand. The University Police Department enforces the laws of the state of Texas, and the state legislature writes the laws. If they write the law, we have to
enforce it."
McMahan said he did not know if Liao's behavior could have
escalated.
"I guess it could have; we'll never know," he said. "That's the hard part about this - you don't know what you prevent sometimes."
Phone calls made to Liao by The Daily Texan went straight to his voice mail and were not returned.
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