James Oliver Seevakumaran (30) was identified by Florida police as the person behind a plot that could have resulted in the first-ever mass shooting by a man of Indian descent.
While neither authorities nor the local media put out specific details on whether Seevakumaran was Indian-American, what is known is that this week he was found dead from self-inflicted gunshot wounds in his dorm room at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, surrounded by explosives and assault weapons.
UCF president John Hitt said Seevakumaran was a student in the College of Business Administration and was enrolled from the fall semester of 2010 through fall 2012, but as he was no longer enrolled in any of the courses this year he was “in the process of being removed from UCF housing.”
Yet clearly he hadn’t been moved soon enough. After a 911 call sounded on March 18, authorities searching the dorms found Seevakumaran in his apartment with a handgun, tactical assault rifle and a backpack containing four improvised explosive devices. The police noted that he had more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition.
According to reports, Seevakumaran had also obtained gun-related printed materials and an instructional DVD about assault weapons. Richard Beary, Police Chief UCF, said that a “checklist” was found in his room along with the written plan to set off the emergency alarm and attack evacuating students. His note allegedly contained the final words: “Give them hell.”
He actually did proceed with part of his plan, which included getting drunk at a local bar and then pulling the alarm, according to CCTV footage that police shared with media on the scene. However after a student called the emergency number when confronted by a man with a rifle, authorities entered his room to discover that he had apparently shot himself.
Referring to Seevakumaran’s roommate, Chief Beary said: “The roommate made [it] clear [that] there was never any outward indication of guns or weapons, nobody saw him with ammunition. But in my experience you don’t have that amount of ammunition, 1,000 rounds, as a joke.”
