Gunman at St Johns University

After the Virginia Tech Massacre students at St Johns University were very much united as were other schools. Little would we think an event remotely close could nearly take place at our campus. On September 26, 2007 at on or about 2:30pm a Man wearing a Halloween George Bush mask with the nose area cut out was walking around campus. He was stopped and searched by public safety authorities at the St Johns University main campus. They found a 50 caliber rifle in a bag. They tackled him and handed him over to police officers. According to some students he was dressed with a hooded sweater and long pants mean while it was 85 degrees today. Omesh Hiraman 22 years old was said to have a history of mental illness. Police officers sealed off all gates to prevent any entry to the campus and no one was aloud to leave. Evening classes were canceled.

At 2pm I was dismissed from class. I still had another class to go to but decided to leave because I wasn't feeling well. When I arrived home I received a phone call saying if I knew what happened at St Johns University? I immediately turned on the news and to my shock and surprise I see what I described above. It's completely surreal to see that this is really happening at my university, my haven that I perceive as safe. Sometimes you think what has this world come to? But you must learn to be alert and simply take all precautions. I thank god that I left early because otherwise I would have been stuck there. But simply seeing this on the news sank my heart. Just the thought of this happening! Fortunately no one was hurt no fires were shot but you simply worry and you don't know how to react if in the given situation.

Luckily ST Johns Public Safety took extreme measures to prevent this from happening. There is also an emergency text messaging service that I've been meaning to opt in to; when ever emergencies happen at SJU in which you receive a text message or a voice mail. I put it off and decided eventually I was going to do it and it has to take a drastic event to happen in order for people to do something and take caution. Many students and faculty that did sign up for this service received this text message but those who didn't were text by friends and were told of the situation. Also the St Johns website had an update every 10 -15 min of what was going on. All students were notified and told to keep away from windows and to stay put.

According to NBC news the suspect lives in east Elmhurst and is from Guyanese descent supposedly he was an actual student at SJU. Officials searched his home and found a black case believed to be where the rifle belonged in with black powder in it. Until now it hasn't been released to the public if the rifle was loaded or not. This individual was apparently questioned and admitted that he was carrying the rifle on campus but didn't give a reason as to why he did this. He did say according to NBC news that he was alone; Although officials believed there might be a possibility that he was walking with a second person. Regardless if he had a case of mental problems and did not take his medication is no excuse for what took place he needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent. He knew exactly what he was doing. If anything who is in charge of him taking the medication? Then they should definitely also punish those who look after him; those who were not cautious enough to notice that this individual didn't take his medication and proceeded to put lives at risk.