Plasma Physics Lab Employee Charged With ‘Terroristic Threat’

A Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) employee has been charged with a felony after allegedly threatening to shoot his supervisor.

According to court documents, Sajjad Gilani, 65, was arrested July 10 by Princeton University Public Safety officers after telling coworkers he was “ready to shoot” his supervisor or someone else. He also spoke about shooting himself.

Gilani has been charged with making a terroristic threat, a third-degree felony in New Jersey when no assault is carried out. If convicted, Gilani could receive one to five years of prison time. The case is being handled by the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office because PPPL’s campus is located in Plainsboro, which is in Middlesex County.

In a redacted recorded 911 call obtained by PAW from the prosecutor’s office via a public records request, a PPPL security officer asked Princeton University Public Safety to send a uniformed officer to come search a University commuter van for unspecified reasons. 

Gilani told coworkers he keeps a gun in his car, according to court documents. The documents don’t mention whether police found a gun.

“The entire situation was taken out of context, and I feel strongly that my client will be vindicated,” Sophia Shalaby, Gilani’s attorney, told PAW.

PPPL, located on the University’s Forrestal Campus, is one of 17 national laboratories funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. PPPL has its own emergency medical services and security but is under the jurisdiction of Princeton Public Safety. More than 750 people work there, all of whom are University employees. 

Gilani has worked at PPPL since at least 2004, when he was first mentioned in a PPPL newsletter. In a 2013 newsletter from PPPL, he was listed as an electrician working on the National Spherical Torus Experiment-Upgrade, part of a team trying to create a fusion nuclear reactor. His LinkedIn profile lists him as a “Senior Team Lead,” but according to the PPPL Office of Human Resources, Gilani is not currently employed by PPPL.

The University declined to comment during the ongoing prosecution.