Police: Florida college student plotted large attack
Source: Agencies |
March 20, 2013, Wednesday
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A University of Central Florida student who pulled a dorm fire alarm in the middle of the night had a more sinister plan than sending students scurrying out into the night, authorities said.
Campus police said on Monday that 30-year-old James Oliver Seevakumaran - who shot himself in the head as officers arrived, before any other students were hurt - was armed with two guns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a backpack filled with explosives and a plan to attack other students as they fled the seven-story dorm where he lived.
His plans were thrown off by campus police officers' quick response to the fire alarm and a call to police from Seevakumaran's roommate, who hid in a bathroom after Seevakumaran pointed a gun at him, UCF Police Chief Richard Beary said.
"It could have been a very bad day here for everybody. All things considered, I think we were very blessed here at the University of Central Florida," Beary said. "One shooting is bad enough. Multiples would have been unthinkable. So, anybody armed with this type of weapon and ammunition could have hurt a lot of people here, particularly in a crowded area."
Some 500 students were evacuated from the building just after midnight, unaware how narrowly they had escaped what could have been a bloodbath similar to the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, when a gunman killed 32 before committing suicide.
"The kid's bringing huge explosives in his room. So yeah, it could have been a lot worse," 19-year-old UCF sophomore Anthony Giamanco said shortly after arriving on campus.
Roommates told detectives that while Seevakumaran showed some anti-social tendencies, he had never expressed any violent behavior. The business major held a job at an on-campus sushi restaurant and had no disciplinary problems, said university spokesman Grant Heston.
Police shed no light on a motive, but Heston said the school had been in the process of removing Seevakumaran from the dormitory because he hadn't enrolled for the current semester.
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