ATHENS - A University of of Georgia graduate student has been arrested after making threatening statements to a faculty member and confronting police officers with a pistol, officials said Tuesday.

Brandon Ginyard, 27, of Los Angeles, who was to receive his MBA degree in two weeks, made the statements Monday morning during a pre-arranged meeting in a faculty member's office at the Terry College of Business, university officials said.

"They were general statements we felt we needed to act on," UGA Police Chief Jimmy Williamson said.

Williamson said police got a court order to commit Ginyard to be evaluated by mental health professionals. He was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer.

Ginyard's arrest came two weeks after a student at Virginia Tech went on killing spree, murdering 32 others before committing suicide.

University and Athens-Clarke police and Clarke County sheriff's deputies went to Ginyard's apartment Monday night. He would not answer the door, so officers got a key from the apartment manager and let themselves in, police said. Once police were inside, Ginyard confronted them with a pistol, they said.