UCF student committed suicide in his dorm room.
Bureau Report
WASHINGTON, DC: Former University of Central Florida (UCF) student James Oliver Seevakumaran had received packages on March 12 that contained gun-related items and a training video on how to use a laser sight, UCF Police Chief Richard Beary said at a news conference.
Seevakumaran had not picked up the two packages yet from the university mail department, he said, reported the Sun Sentinel.
Other new details surfaced about Seevakumaran, 30, who officials said killed himself in his dorm room early Monday morning.
Beary said UCF found a check list that indicated Seevakumaran had planned to unleash an attack on the campus. The check list included numerous items that he had crossed out. Far down on the list was his plan to pull the fire alarm in his dormitory building. And the very last item was: “Give them hell.”
Seevakumaran pulled the fire alarm about 12:20 a.m., officials said, and it prompted an evacuation of Tower 1, a housing complex of about 500 students located near the UCF Arena. Authorities have said they think Seevakumaran pulled the alarm to force students into the hallways, reported Sentinel.
When police later searched his room, they found an assault rifle, a handgun, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and, in a backpack, handmade explosives.
In an interview with the Sentinel, Seevakumaran’s roommate, Arabo Babakhani, described the tense scene in his third-floor dorm room early Monday morning.
Babakhani, 24, said he was in his bedroom playing guitar when he heard the fire alarm go off. He assumed one of his roommates had burned something in the kitchen. But he opened his bedroom door to find Seevakumaran pointing a rifle at him. Babakhani said he quickly slammed the door in Seevakumaran’s face and called 911.
All the while, Babakhani said, Seevakumaran “didn’t say a single word.”
Then, Babakhani said, he heard noises, which he assumes now were gun shots. Police have said Seevakumaran went into his bedroom and shot himself. Babakhani described Seevakumaran as “extremely solitary,” avoiding human contact, particularly eye contact.
Seevakumaran’s family released a statement Tuesday describing him as “a loner” who did not have a history of violence. The family did not want to comment further.
Meanwhile, a former Resident Assistant who worked for UCF campus housing and knew Seevakumaran expressed shock that he had been involved in such violence, said the report.
“James was a good person; I know that in my heart,” said Quan-Bao Blake Tran, who now lives in Pennsylvania. “He was a bit socially awkward but I would never have guessed something like this and he never gave me any indication or reached out to me for help. Regardless, I’m sorry I wasn’t there to do more, James,that you were in so much pain that you thought hurting others or yourself would fill that hole in your heart. Rest in peace.”
Beary said UCF is still trying to figure out a motive for Seevakumaran’s planned attack. Investigators will be analyzing his computer for clues.
“Thus far we have not uncovered anything that would give us the motive or a rationale,” Beary said. “There is no manifesto, no documentation.”
At the late afternoon news conference, Beary displayed the items found in the packages that the mailroom at the student housing complex had received for Seevakumaran. The two packages contained two magazine clips, a gun sling and the training DVD. Beary also showed a video of police entering Tower 1 and finding Seevakumaran dead in his bedroom, said the Sentinel.
According to Seevakumaran’s Facebook page, he worked as a cashier at Kyoto Sushi & Grill, which has three locations in the Orlando area. An employee, who asked not to be identified, said he worked at the location at Knights Plaza on the UCF Campus, which is within walking distance of Tower 1.
An employee who answered the phone at the restaurant said the manager had directed employees not to comment.
Seevakumaran had a pair of traffic cases in Orange County — one for running a red light and not having the vehicle registration in March 2012 and another for driving with an expired license and an expired license tag in January 2005. He paid fines in both cases, public records show, said the report.
He also completed a one-year diversionary program for misdemeanor offenders after he was cited for selling alcohol to a minor in 2004. He was working for a convenience store in Lake Mary when he sold a six-pack of Smirnoff Ice to a police decoy. According to a police report, he did not swipe the police decoy’s driver’s license into a machine that calculates the customer’s age.