The University of Central Florida will hold a news conference Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. to discuss the March 18 incident at the school’s Tower 1 dormitory that involved a former student who was planning an attack on the campus.
James Seevakumaran, a former UCF student, shot and killed himself inside of his dorm before he could commit the attack he had planned. Police went on to find two guns inside his room as well as several improvised explosive devices.
UCF releases this information about the investigation:
“Overall, UCF responded commendably to the March 18 incident by focusing on the safety of the campus and supporting the needs of affected students and staff, as well as sharing timely and accurate information with the broader university family and beyond. Crisis response plans generally worked well and involved personnel addressed real-time and follow-on challenges with noteworthy dedication and outstanding professionalism.
This review identifies several areas for improvement, primarily involving the adequacy of certain housing policies, the designation and alignment of assets (staffing and funding) available for support of a prolonged emergency event, and the implementation of enhanced campus security infrastructure (such as universal building access capability, improved security-camera coverage and interoperability, and upgraded emergency messaging systems).
Various action items recommend these and other improvements, many of which have already been completed or are in progress, with others undergoing further analysis.
I led the two-month review, which included contributions from multiple UCF departments, an independent group of university and community members, and an independent security and crisis response expert.
The police investigation showed that two factors likely contributed to preventing the deceased from carrying out his plan of violence against the UCF community.
First, UCF police arrived at Tower 1 within four minutes of the initial 911 call. Material retrieved from the deceased’s computer showed that he anticipated having 10 to 15 minutes to carry out his plan. Second, police found that the deceased’s rifle jammed.”
The news conference will include an update on the university’s after-action review and the conclusions of the police investigation.
KnightNews.com will have a crew at the conference and have live updates via our Twitter feed. Follow @UCFKnightNews to stay updated.
For more on the incident, click here.
