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Posted by: Inspector


Posted: Wednesday, 26 September 2007 6:21PM

Student Gunman Arrested on St. John's University Campus

NEW YORK (1010 WINS/AP) -- A man with a rifle in a bag was apprehended on the campus of St. John's University on Wednesday, but no injuries were reported.

Public safety officials, who e-mailed warnings to students, disarmed the man, later identified as Omesh Hiraman, 22, at 3 p.m. and turned him over to police. Reports say he may have been wearing a mask of some sort while walking around on campus.

Hiraman is a freshman at the school. Police sources say he has a history of psychiatric problems and may not have taken his medication.

1010 WINS reported that police may be looking for more suspects, and are conducting a search of a home located at 31-08 92nd Street in East Elmhurst.
Students initially were told stay inside their classrooms and buildings; they were allowed to go home around 5:30 p.m. Classes on the Jamaica, Queens campus were canceled for the evening.
Kevin Su, an editor of the student newspaper, said he was notified of the incident because of an emergency call system in place at the school. He said students received text and telephone messages beginning around 2:30 p.m. warning them there was an armed person on campus.
"People are nervous,'' said Su, 22. "Almost everyone is on their cell phones calling parents and letting friends know not to come to campus.''
Su said students were ushered into buildings that were staffed with security guards and told to stay put. He said there wasn't much discussion of whether there were similarities between the incident Wednesday and the April 16 rampage on the campus of Virginia Tech, where a student gunman killed 32 people and then himself.
"I think it's basically on everyone's mind,'' Su said. "It doesn't need to be said outright.''
Student Lina Rios was in the school's gym with about 100 other people. She said she was impressed with how fast officials notified students of the issue, and she said they were updating students about every 15 minutes inside the gym.
"We were all amazed how fast the cops were there and how fast everyone knew what was going on,'' she said.

Bryan Burtner, a junior at the school, told 1010 WINS that SWAT teams stormed a church on campus, and that it "looked like a scene out of a movie."
Students said the university implemented the new emergency communication system this semester but they and faculty members are required to register for it. Still, Rios said, enough people were signed up to spread the word quickly across the campus.
St. John's is a Catholic university of about 20,000 students with three residential campuses in the city. The Queens site is the school's main campus.

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Posted by: kwflatbed



AP Photo/NYPD

An officer displays a .50 caliber, single shot rifle that was taken from a masked college student who was carrying it around St. John's University.


AP Photo/NYPD

A costume-styled mask lays on the ground after being taken from an armed student at St. John's University.


ERIKA MARTINEZ and HASANI GITTENS

NEW YORK-- Christopher Benson, the police cadet and criminal-justice major who helped tackle a campus gunman at St. John's yesterday, deserves straight A's for the rest of the school year.
The genial 21-year-old from Little Neck, Queens, was relaxing between classes, chatting with his girlfriend via phone when he spotted something frightening and bizarre.
"A person walked by me wearing a George Bush mask, carrying a rifle," said Benson.
Other students noticed the creep, too.
Benson - who has been in the NYPD Cadet Corps for six weeks and has experience as a volunteer firefighter - followed the gun-toting student, later identified as Omesh Hiraman.
In the Cadet Corps, college students work in NYPD offices, gaining experience and a stipend while in school.
Benson said he was taught to "keep his distance and observe."
It didn't take much to realize something was up. "He had a mask with a hoodie - it was 80 to 90 degrees today," Benson said. "And then the way the guy was walking, the gun was just the icing on the cake."
The cadet followed Hiraman from St. John's Hall to Marillac Hall as the gunman zigzagged through a breezeway.
Campus security personnel, alerted by other witnesses, had closed down the area and were sending students emergency text messages.
As Hiraman turned a corner, he ran into security guard Dan Boylan, who quickly grabbed at the loaded .50-caliber weapon.
The 6-foot-2, 230-pound Benson went from observation to motivation - springing into action to help Boylan. "I grabbed the suspect, held him against the wall and subdued him," he said.
At about 5-foot-11 and 150 to 180 pounds, Hiraman was no match.
Eventually, he called his girlfriend back and let her know he was OK.
Was she scared for him? Once again, not at all. "She knows me, and how I can deal with things," he said.
Benson, who has aspired to be a cop his whole life, got a phone call from Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
"He said congratulations. It was pretty outstanding," said Benson. "I really enjoyed that phone call."

Story From: The New York Post

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Posted by: kwflatbed



Courtesy of NY Post/James Messerschmidt

NYPD Cadet Christopher Benson, left, and campus Officer Dan Boylan grabbed the gunman.

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Posted by: PBiddy35

Bravo.

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