Campus Alert Archive
UNCW

A Burned Elevator Flier and a Pulled Fire Alarm Led Police to a UNCW Student at Loggerhead Hall

AI-generated · every claim is source-linked
NCarsontimely warningmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

In the early hours of April 27, 2025, a Loggerhead Hall resident pulled the fire alarm after noticing smoke coming from the elevator, and UNCW Police found ash, heavy smoke, and a burned flier that had been taped inside the elevator. No major damage was reported. Nicholas Morganelli, 19, was charged with a felony arson count and several misdemeanor offenses after an investigation identified him as the person responsible.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
University of North Carolina Wilmington
Public Masters · NC
~18,000 studentsUNCW Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence

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 ALERTPush
Approximate reconstruction301 chars
UNCW ALERT: University Police and Wilmington Fire are responding to Loggerhead Hall after a fire alarm was activated. Smoke was reported near the elevators. There is no immediate danger to the building. Please follow instructions from Housing and Residence Life staff. This is an active investigation.

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

WECT reported a student pulled the fire alarm after noticing smoke coming from the elevator, and that police arriving on scene found ash, heavy smoke, and a burned flier taped inside the elevator
Loggerhead Hall is a UNCW residence hall named for the university's Seahawk-and-coastal branding; no major structural damage was reported
The building was not described as evacuated for an extended period in available reporting, consistent with a contained, elevator-area fire rather than a building-wide hazard
FOLLOW-UPEmail
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from WECT's May 1, 2025 report on the arrest of Nicholas Morganelli371 chars
UNCW ALERT UPDATE: University Police have identified a suspect in the April 27 fire at Loggerhead Hall. A 19-year-old student faces a felony arson charge in connection with a burned flier discovered inside the building's elevator. No injuries were reported. This case remains under investigation by University Police and the New Hanover County District Attorney's office.

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

WWAYTV3 reported the felony charge as 'burning of a school house,' the North Carolina statutory arson charge that applies to educational buildings, alongside several misdemeanor drug and fictitious-ID charges unrelated to the fire itself
Morganelli had been enrolled at UNCW only since fall 2024, meaning the incident occurred during his second semester
No major building damage was reported, distinguishing this from more destructive campus arson cases but still meeting the Clery Act's timely-warning threshold for arson as a continuing-threat crime
Context

Background

The University of North Carolina Wilmington is a public university on the state's southeastern coast. In the early hours of April 27, 2025, a resident of Loggerhead Hall pulled the building's fire alarm after noticing smoke coming from the elevator. Responding UNCW Police officers found ash, heavy smoke, and a burned flier that had been taped inside the elevator. No injuries were reported and damage was limited. WWAYTV3 reported that the ensuing investigation identified Nicholas Morganelli, 19, a UNCW student from Raleigh enrolled since fall 2024, as a suspect. He was charged with felony burning of a school house, North Carolina's statutory arson offense covering educational buildings, along with unrelated misdemeanor charges for marijuana possession and possession of a fictitious driver's license discovered during the investigation. The case reflects a common campus-arson pattern: a small, contained fire in a shared space, discovered because a resident activated the fire alarm rather than because of visible flame, that nonetheless carries felony exposure under state arson statutes designed to protect occupied buildings.
Analysis

Key Findings

A UNCW student pulled the Loggerhead Hall fire alarm after noticing smoke from the elevator in the early hours of April 27, 2025
Responding police found a burned flier that had been taped inside the elevator, along with ash and heavy smoke, but no major structural damage
A 19-year-old student, enrolled at UNCW since only fall 2024, was identified and charged with felony burning of a school house
The suspect also faced unrelated misdemeanor drug and false-ID charges discovered during the same investigation
No injuries were reported despite the felony-level arson charge, illustrating how North Carolina's schoolhouse-arson statute applies regardless of the fire's ultimate severity
Outcome
Nicholas Morganelli, 19, of Raleigh, a UNCW student enrolled since fall 2024, was charged with a felony count of burning of a schoolhouse (arson), along with misdemeanor possession of marijuana paraphernalia, misdemeanor possession or display of a fictitious or revoked driver's license, and misdemeanor possession of marijuana. No injuries were reported, and damage was limited to a burned flier and smoke residue near the elevator.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    19-year-old UNCW student charged with arson after allegedly setting fire on campus
    wect.com
    archived copy
  2. News
    UNCW student charged with arson for incident on campus
    wwaytv3.com
    archived copy
Cite this case

Campus Alert Archive. "University of North Carolina Wilmington: A Burned Elevator Flier and a Pulled Fire Alarm Led Police to a UNCW Student at Loggerhead Hall." Incident of April 27, 2025. Added July 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/uncw-loggerhead-hall-arson-2025-04-27/

Download case JSON

Alert text quoted on this page remains the work of the issuing institution; the archive is a secondary source.

Tags
arsonresidence-hallelevatorfire-alarmstudent-perpetratornorth-carolinapublic-masters2020sno-injuries
Added July 2026Updated July 2026Via ingestion