The Florida student set off a fire alarm to get everyone in the dorm outside

Mar 19, 2013 08:40 GMT  ·  By
James Oliver Seevakumaran planned to kill several students on the UCF campus
   James Oliver Seevakumaran planned to kill several students on the UCF campus

A dropout student at the University of Central Florida has committed suicide in his dorm room, after sounding a fire alarm and planning to kill several students in a shooting.

"There was a planned attack," UCF Police Chief Richard Beary describes for the Orlando Sentinel.

30-year-old James Oliver Seevakumaran hadn't paid his tuition fee but was still allowed on campus, living on the third floor of a dormitory. Officials were set to evict him soon, but had tried a "compassionate approach" in letting him stay a while longer.

According to law enforcement, Seevakumaran had drawn out plans to execute his fellow students, having bought two guns and having tried to fashion four explosive devices.

A timeline of the mass attack he envisioned has been recovered among his notes after he shot himself. He set off a fire alarm on campus, which was meant to bring everyone in the dorm outside, where he planned to execute them.

On Monday, March 18, after starting what students thought was a fire drill, he threatened one of his three roommates with a gun, prompting him to run out, hide in a bathroom and call police.

Seevakumaran returned to his room, presumably when he noticed that police were closing in on him, and used one of his weapons to take his own life.

"It could have been a very bad day for everyone here. [...] Let's just face it: One shooting is bad enough. Multiples is unthinkable.

"It's a tragedy, but it's not an unspeakable tragedy. [...] A life was lost, but it was the life of the perpetrator," the Police Chief comments.

A High Point 45-caliber semi-automatic pistol and an American Tech 22-magnum tactical rifle have been found in his room, one of which had been acquired in February. The explosives were "not in final completed stages" and were not powerful enough to blow up the dorm.