University of Central Florida Massacre Prevented By 911 Call
Orlando, FL – A 911 call alerted police officers to the presence of a man with a gun at the University of Central Florida Monday, staving off a potential massacre. As The Inquisitr reported yesterday, police found both weapons and explosives on campus.
Police Chief Richard Beary told Reuters that the shooter pulled the dormitory fire alarm to get all of the students out in the open and then went to his apartment and aimed a gun at his roommate. The roommate locked himself in the bathroom and dialed 911.
Police arrived three minutes after the alarm was pulled, rescued the roommate, and found the shooter dead. He had shot himself in the head.
The fire alarm was pulled at 12:20 am. Police notified students at 2:09 am via a text alert that Tower 1 dormitory was evacuated due to a “suspicious death.” They texted the students again over half an hour later assuring that there was no threat.
The shooter, James Oliver Seevakumaran, was planning an attack. He pulled the fire alarm to get everyone out in one place. He had enough weapons stockpiled to have make the field the site of a massacre, and police found writings and a timeline suggesting plans to do so.
Police found a handgun, a semi-automatic tactical rifle, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and four bombs. Had the shooter made use of his arsenal, the incident could have potentially been the worst campus massacre since the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting that left 33 people dead and 17 others wounded.
The roommate described the shooter as a loner and anti-social but not violent. Seevakumaran had never visited university counselors or psychological services and had no prior record of misconduct. He had, however, paid neither tuition nor his housing bill for the spring semester.
The roomate’s 911 call threw off the shooter’s plans and pushed him to commit suicide. University of Central Florida students, faculty, and staff have been left to deal with a single death rather than a massacre.
[Image via Wikimedia Commons]
