Student Terrorizes St. John’s in a Halloween Mask
Words Tewauna Oliver
Its 2:45 and I’m late for class. I begin making the long journey from my car to class on the first floor of Marillac Hall. I walk in, say hello and begin to get caught up on what I missed when all of a sudden one of the girls in my class says, “I just got a text message from public safety.”
She begins to read out loud:
"From public safety: Male was found on campus with a rifle. Please stay in your buildings until further notice. He is in custody, but please wait until the all-clear.”
Students began frantically looking around for their own phones in attempts to see whether or not public safety had notified them as well. Soon a barrage of “I got the text too”, and “Oh I have a voicemail” came from the students towards the professor who was just as confused as the students
Just then more text messages spilled in this time from friends and family members expressing concern and even wild rumors of three and four gunman. After a while, the not so subtle whooping sound of a helicopter flying over head could be heard. The entire journalism class rushed to the windows to see just what else they might be able to catch a glimpse of. To their surprise they had only a fairly decent seat to see the “action.” From the window of the class room on the first floor of Marillac it was possible to see SWAT cars, and even members of the NYPD SWAT team fully uniformed. Being a class full of journalists the students disbursed into groups some taking photos and others doing research online seeing which news sites had already updated their pages.
Soon messages of plain clothed FBI agents walking through the building came in. Looking through the window, the slight action occurring was loosing its buzz in a class room of restless students happy to be ok but rather upset about the “inconvenience.”
As students are herded in the building from the streets they find their way into the nearby class rooms causing an outbreak of discussion on the possibility of the suspect blending in. As the fear and tension rises, more loud commotion can be heard coming from outside.
“The class room across the hall, look they barricaded the door!”
A student pointed out after catching a glimpse of classroom furniture through the small window in the classroom door.
There was a lot of movement going on outside leading a student to peek their head out to see what was happening, they were told that “every one needs to leave the building and go to Carnaseca Arena.” The class hesitantly gathered their things and proceeded out the door, down the hall, and down the stairs through a side door close by the arena. SWAT team members stood guard near the entrance doors making sure everything was clear for students to pass. After about two hours in the arena we were finally released and told that the rumors of multiple gun men were false and that one gunman was in custody.
Over the next few days news had spread like wildfire about the actual events of the day. Omesh Hiraman a 22 year old transfer freshman at St. John’s University entered Marillac Hall with a loaded riffle, wearing a hoodie, and a Halloween mask. While strolling in the halls, Hiraman was tackled by campus police and a police cadet.
An arraignment was held September 28th via video between Judge Deborah Stevens Modica and Hiraman from is hospital bed at Belleview in
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