Campus Alert Archive
St. John's

A Rifle, a Bush Mask, and One of the First Tests of a Post-Virginia Tech Text System

NYarmed personemergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On the afternoon of September 26, 2007, a 22-year-old freshman, Omesh Hiraman, walked across St. John's University's Queens campus carrying a loaded .50-caliber single-shot rifle in a black plastic bag while wearing a George W. Bush rubber mask. No shots were fired and no one was hurt; unarmed campus security and an NYPD-cadet student tackled him near a library. The incident became an early real-world test of the text- and phone-based emergency notification systems that campuses rushed to deploy after the Virginia Tech shooting five months earlier.

Alerts
3
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
St. John's University
Private R2 · NY
~20,000 studentsSt. John's Emergency Notification System
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Verified verbatimThe Torch (St. John's student newspaper)105 chars
On Queens Campus, Male was found on campus with rifle. Please stay in your buildings until further notice.
This was among the first uses of St. John's text/phone notification system, which the university had stood up in the months after the April 2007 Virginia Tech shooting; the terse two-sentence SMS reflects the new constraint environment.
The message reports 'Male was found on campus with rifle' and gives a shelter instruction ('Please stay in your buildings until further notice') without naming a building, leaving students to seek further detail from staff and campus channels.
Reported as sent at approximately 2:30 PM EDT, around the same time students first spotted the armed man, illustrating how quickly the new system could push a campus-wide warning.
UPDATEEmail
Approximate reconstruction237 chars
The individual who was apprehended on the Queens campus this afternoon is in police custody. Students, faculty and staff should remain in their current buildings until further notice while police complete their work. Updates will follow.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed: the exact wording of the follow-up notice is not preserved in available sources, but coverage confirms students were told to stay inside their buildings while police worked.
This message is an update, not an all-clear, because it still instructs the community to remain sheltered in place pending police clearance.
Multiple outlets reported the suspect was in custody by this point after being tackled by campus security and a student NYPD cadet near a library.
ALL CLEAREmail
Approximate reconstruction219 chars
The Queens campus is now secure. Buildings have been cleared by police and the earlier hold has been lifted. Evening classes are cancelled; the campus will resume normal operations. Thank you for your cooperation today.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed: sources report the shelter-in-place held until around 5:30 PM EDT and that evening classes were cancelled, but the verbatim all-clear text is not preserved.
This is the genuine all-clear because it explicitly lifts the earlier hold and addresses resumption of operations, unlike the prior update.
The roughly three-hour lockdown for a single, quickly-apprehended armed man reflects the heightened caution at urban campuses in the immediate post-Virginia Tech period.
Context

Background

St. John's University's Queens campus locked down on the afternoon of September 26, 2007, after a freshman was seen walking near St. John's Hall and Marillac Hall carrying a .50-caliber single-shot rifle in a black bag and wearing a George W. Bush mask. Students tipped off Public Safety, and unarmed campus security officers and a student who was also an NYPD cadet tackled the man as he walked toward a library. The suspect, Omesh Hiraman, 22, was arrested on a misdemeanor weapons charge. The case is notable less for its danger than for its timing: it came barely five months after the Virginia Tech massacre, during the national rush to deploy campus text-alert systems, and the brief verbatim SMS preserved by the student newspaper The Torch is an artifact of those first-generation systems.
Analysis

Key Findings

The verbatim SMS ('On Queens Campus, Male was found on campus with rifle. Please stay in your buildings until further notice.') is a rare preserved example of a first-generation post-Virginia Tech campus text alert
No shots were fired and no one was injured; the armed man was tackled by unarmed campus security and a student NYPD cadet
The Queens campus held a shelter-in-place from roughly 2:30 PM to 5:30 PM EDT and cancelled evening classes
The incident shows how the brand-new notification systems prioritized speed over detail, pushing a terse warning before the suspect's location or intent was fully known
Outcome
Hiraman was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of criminal possession of a loaded weapon. The campus stayed locked down until roughly 5:30 PM EDT and evening classes were cancelled. No injuries occurred.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Student Paper
    Student gunman arrested on campus - The Torch
    torchonline.com
  2. News
    Campus Gun Scare Lands Student In Jail - CBS News
    cbsnews.com
  3. News
    Police Arrest Alleged Gunman on St. John's University Campus - Fox News
    foxnews.com
  4. News
    Arrest made in scare at St. John's University - WTOL
    wtol.com
Tags
weapons-violationlockdownnew-yorkpost-virginia-techtext-alert-systemno-injuriesearly-notification
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion