Massacre Thwarted at University of Central Florida
http://abcnews.go.com/US/massacre-thwarted-florida-college-quick-cop-response/story?id=18754748
By COLLEEN CURRY
March 18, 2013
A planned massacre was thwarted today at the University of Central Florida
where a student who had assembled an arsenal, including a high capacity drum
magazine and home made bombs, took his own life as cops closed in on him.
James Oliver Seevakumaran, who was in the process of being kicked out of his
dorm on the UCF campus, had written out a timeline and elaborate plan for
how to harm the greatest number of individuals during the planned attack,
university Police Chief Richard Beary said today.
The suspect accumulated multiple weapons, including American Tactical .22
caliber assault rifle and a High Point .45 caliber handgun, hundreds of
rounds of ammunition and high capacity magazines, including a drum magazine
similar to the type used in the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo.
Seevakumaran, 30, had also assembled four homemade improvised explosive
devices which officials described as Molotov cocktail-type incendiaries
believed to be lined with shrapnel.
Seevakumaran planned to use all of the weapons after pulling a fire alarm to
draw students out of their rooms very early this morning, police said.
Shortly after midnight, he activated a fire alarm in the building to enact
his plan and then returned to his apartment to retrieve his weapons,
according to Beary.
Campus police were responding to the fire alarm call at the dorm when
Seevakumaran's roommate called 911 to say that Seevakumaran had pointed a
gun at him, causing the roommate to flee to the bathroom and lock himself
inside.
Police believe that Seevakumaran planned to go out into the hallway as
students evacuated and fire the weapons and detonate bombs.
Instead, police arrived at the suspect's apartment in Tower 1 with the
knowledge that there was a report of a man with a gun. Beary said that
officers were armed when they entered Seevakumaran's apartment.
They freed the roommate from the bathroom and found Seevakumaran dead from a
self-inflicted gunshot wound, Beary said.
"What we think is his timeline got off, the rapid response of law
enforcement maybe have changed his ability to think quickly on his feet,"
Beary said.
The roommate told police that Seevakumaran, whose family lives in Florida,
had exhibited some anti-social behavior but that the roommates had never
seen him with weapons or act violently.
The university said that he had been enrolled as a student at UCF from fall
2010 to fall 2012. He did not enroll for the spring 2013 term, and the
university was in the process of moving him out of the residence hall. A
spokesman said that the university takes a "compassionate" position toward
students that are no longer enrolled, instead of forcing them off campus
immediately.
Police said Seevakumaran obtained the weapons at an Orlando area gun shop,
and that he began amassing ammunition in early February.
Classes resumed at the University of Central Florida today after police
removed the bombs and an assault weapon from a dorm. The campus was reopened
around noon.
A bomb squad from the Orange County Sheriff's Department removed the
explosive devices.
"University police responded immediately when we received a fire alarm call
and a subsequent 911 call," Beary said in a statement released in the
morning by the school. "The safety of our students in Tower 1 and our entire
campus community is our top priority."
Students who were evacuated from their dorm rooms in the Tower 1 residence
hall were housed at the UCF Arena until they were allowed back into their
rooms, the school said.
==========================================
(F)AIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this
message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to
these copyrighted items are reserved. Articles and graphics have been placed
within for educational and discussion purposes only, in compliance with
"Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
The principle of "Fair Use" was established as law by Section 107 of The
Copyright Act of 1976. "Fair Use" legally eliminates the need to obtain
permission or pay royalties for the use of previously copyrighted materials
if the purposes of display include "criticism, comment, news reporting,
teaching, scholarship, and research." Section 107 establishes four criteria
for determining whether the use of a work in any particular case qualifies
as a "fair use". A work used does not necessarily have to satisfy all four
criteria to qualify as an instance of "fair use". Rather, "fair use" is
determined by the overall extent to which the cited work does or does not
substantially satisfy the criteria in their totality. If you wish to use
copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
THIS DOCUMENT MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. COPYING AND DISSEMINATION IS
PROHIBITED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNERS.
No comments:
Post a Comment