After noticing his roommate James Seevakumaran acting strangely and then spotting him with a gun, a University of Central Florida student called 911 from inside a locked bathroom early Monday -- a call authorities say might have saved the lives of other students on campus.
Authorities Tuesday afternoon released an audio recording of the 911 call.
"My roommate just pulled a fire alarm, and he's got a gun out," Seevakumaran's roommate Arabo Babakhani told a dispatcher.
The 911 call commenced about 12:20 a.m., a log shows.
"The fire alarm went off; I opened the door to see what was going on and he's there with ... some sort of, like, gun -- like, large assault gun," Babakhani told the dispatcher. "I don't know if it's a real gun; I don't know what it is, but I just saw it, and I slammed my door shut and locked it."
Authorities say that Seevakumaran had pulled a fire alarm in the Tower 1 dorm -- perhaps in an effort to get students out of the building so he could shoot them.
Seevakumaran had drafted plans to kill others in his dormitory, police say, but changed his mind early Monday and took only his own life, police said.
Seevakumaran was confirmed dead about 1:05 a.m., dispatch records show.
The 30-year-old former student, who was in the process of being evicted from the dorm, was found in his room, dead from a single shot to the head fired by one of his newly purchased guns, police said.
UCF police Chief Richard Beary said Monday that writings found in his dorm room indicated "there was a planned attack."
When they searched his room, officers found an assault weapon, a handgun, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and, in a backpack, handmade explosives. The assault rifle had a magazine capable of holding 28 bullets, officials said.
Because authorities were responding to the fire alarm just after midnight when the 911 call came in, UCF police were already en route. By the time they got on scene, they knew there was a man with a gun and responded appropriately, Beary said. But by the time they got into the apartment, Seevakumaran was dead.
Police said they found evidence in the apartment that showed the former business major was planning to hurt or kill others. Details of the plan were not released by police or university officials.
Copyright 2013 - Orlando Sentinel
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
