The morning devotional was a talk by Howard W. Hunter, then President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. After the invocation and introductions, President Hunter went to the microphone and began to speak. Suddenly a voice yelled out, “Stop right there!” A man carrying a briefcase in one hand and a black object in the other rushed out of the audience and onto the stage. Declaring that he had a bomb and a detonator, he ordered everyone except President Hunter to leave.
Most of the officials and guests quickly left the stage, but President Hunter remained, with two personal security guards who refused to leave his side. Waving the so-called detonator, which many spectators feared was a gun, the man handed a prepared statement to President Hunter and demanded that he read it. President Hunter calmly but firmly refused to do so.
Members of the audience sat stunned momentarily. Then some broke into tears; others began moving toward the exits: and a few angrily converged toward the stage area, where they tried to get the man to surrender. A modicum of calm was restored when a few students, soon joined by the entire audience, began to sing “We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet.”
The reaction of the audience seemed to baffle the intruder who was soon subdued and carried away, and President Hunter went on with his talk.
