{
  "id": "2013-03-18-ucf-tower-one-thwarted-attack",
  "slug": "ucf-tower-one-thwarted-attack-2013-03-18",
  "institution": {
    "name": "University of Central Florida",
    "shortName": "UCF",
    "state": "FL",
    "type": "public-r1",
    "alertSystemName": "UCF Alert",
    "enrollment": 60000
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2013-03-18",
    "type": "active-shooter",
    "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification",
    "headline": "A roommate's 911 call foils a planned dorm mass shooting after a fire-alarm diversion",
    "headlinePublic": "A roommate's 911 call foils a planned dorm mass shooting after a fire-alarm diversion",
    "summary": "Just after midnight on Monday, March 18, 2013, evicted UCF student [James Oliver Seevakumaran](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/james-seevakumaran-evicted-ucf-student-idd-as-man-found-shot-dead-on-campus-planned-wider-attack-police-say/), 30, pulled a fire alarm inside [Tower I](https://www.cnn.com/2013/03/18/us/florida-ucf-body-found), a seven-story residence hall housing approximately 500 students at the University of Central Florida. He had loaded an AR-15-style rifle, a handgun, hundreds of rounds, and four improvised explosive devices into a backpack, and intended to shoot students as they evacuated. His roommate, [Arabo Babakhani](https://www.cnn.com/2013/03/19/us/florida-ucf-plot/index.html), saw the rifle and escaped to call 911, the call that police credit with foiling the attack. Seevakumaran killed himself before officers arrived. UCF Police evacuated Tower I, set off a [campus-wide UCF Alert](https://nicholsonstudentmedia.com/news/ten-years-since-a-ucf-student-attempted-a-mass-shooting-on-campus/article_86d88fb2-be10-11ed-a663-13cf8da28dcd.html), and canceled all Monday classes.",
    "outcome": "James Seevakumaran was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Room 308 of Tower I. No students were injured. UCF Police later recovered an AR-15-style rifle, a handgun, several hundred rounds of ammunition, four improvised explosive devices, and a handwritten 'to-do list' the gunman had completed except for the final entry: 'give them hell.' Tower I was reopened later that day with the exception of the third floor. Roommate Arabo Babakhani was widely credited as having saved hundreds of lives.",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 0,
      "injured": 0
    },
    "resolution": "confirmed-threat"
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "update",
      "channel": "twitter-x",
      "timestamp": "2013-03-18T11:02:55-04:00",
      "verbatimText": "Main campus to reopen at noon. Tower 1 remains evacuated. Faculty are asked to be understanding of students who may not have all  materials.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://x.com/UCF/status/313666835218309121",
      "sourceDescription": "@UCF on X (official, verbatim Tower 1)",
      "annotations": [
        "Exact text from official @UCF status 313666835218309121"
      ],
      "characterCount": 140
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "update",
      "channel": "twitter-x",
      "timestamp": "2013-03-18T11:09:29-04:00",
      "verbatimText": "Campus to reopen at noon. Explosive materials have been rendered safe and will be removed from campus by noon. Tower 1 remains evacuated.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://x.com/UCF/status/313668486624858114",
      "sourceDescription": "@UCF on X (official, verbatim Tower 1)",
      "annotations": [
        "Exact text from official @UCF status 313668486624858114"
      ],
      "characterCount": 137
    },
    {
      "sequence": 3,
      "type": "update",
      "channel": "twitter-x",
      "timestamp": "2013-03-18T16:47:11-04:00",
      "verbatimText": "Tower 1 now open except for 3rd floor. See housing staff Tower 1 lobby for more information. Check back for more updates.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://x.com/UCF/status/313753471478272000",
      "sourceDescription": "@UCF on X (official, verbatim Tower 1)",
      "annotations": [
        "Exact text from official @UCF status 313753471478272000"
      ],
      "characterCount": 121
    },
    {
      "sequence": 4,
      "type": "update",
      "channel": "twitter-x",
      "timestamp": "2013-03-18T16:49:22-04:00",
      "verbatimText": "Tower 1 open except for 3rd floor. See housing staff in lobby for more info. Updates http://www.ucf.edu",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://x.com/UCF/status/313754020797898755",
      "sourceDescription": "@UCF on X (verbatim)",
      "annotations": [
        "Exact text from official @UCF status 313754020797898755",
        "Corrected to exact fxtwitter display text."
      ],
      "characterCount": 103
    },
    {
      "sequence": 5,
      "type": "all-clear",
      "channel": "twitter-x",
      "timestamp": "2013-03-18T18:27:38-04:00",
      "verbatimText": "Tower 1 is now fully open. Third Floor is open.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://x.com/UCF/status/313778750745616384",
      "sourceDescription": "@UCF on X (official, verbatim Tower 1)",
      "annotations": [
        "Exact text from official @UCF status 313778750745616384"
      ],
      "characterCount": 47
    },
    {
      "sequence": 6,
      "type": "all-clear",
      "channel": "twitter-x",
      "timestamp": "2013-03-18T18:29:47-04:00",
      "verbatimText": "Tower 1 is now fully open. The 3rd floor is now open.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://x.com/UCF/status/313779291370438656",
      "sourceDescription": "@UCF on X (official, verbatim Tower 1)",
      "annotations": [
        "Exact text from official @UCF status 313779291370438656"
      ],
      "characterCount": 53
    }
  ],
  "context": "The thwarted [March 18, 2013, mass shooting at the University of Central Florida](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/james-seevakumaran-evicted-ucf-student-idd-as-man-found-shot-dead-on-campus-planned-wider-attack-police-say/) is one of the most-studied examples of a campus attack interrupted in progress. James Oliver Seevakumaran, 30, was a former business student who had been at UCF from fall 2010 through fall 2012 and was being evicted from [Tower I](https://www.cnn.com/2013/03/18/us/florida-ucf-body-found), a seven-story residence hall housing approximately 500 students at the time. Around midnight on Monday, March 18, Seevakumaran put on a black tactical vest, picked up an AR-15-style rifle and a Glock handgun, loaded four homemade [improvised explosive devices](https://abcnews.com/US/ucf-gunmans-list-ended-give-em-helle/story?id=18762704) into a backpack, and pulled the fire alarm in his hallway. He intended to shoot students as they streamed out of the building. His roommate, [Arabo Babakhani](https://www.cnn.com/2013/03/19/us/florida-ucf-plot/index.html), saw the rifle, locked himself in their dorm room's bathroom, and called 911. Seevakumaran knocked on the bathroom door; when Babakhani didn't open it, Seevakumaran shot himself with the handgun. Police arrived within minutes (drawn both by the 911 call and the fire alarm) to find Seevakumaran dead in Room 308 along with a 'to-do list' he had handwritten that included steps like 'put rounds in a bag,' 'wait for fire alarm,' and a final unchecked item: '[give them hell](https://www.cnn.com/2013/03/19/us/florida-ucf-plot/index.html).' UCF's emergency notification system was activated almost immediately, sending text and email alerts to the campus community. The university canceled Monday classes and worked with the [Orange County Sheriff's bomb squad](https://www.news4jax.com/news/2013/06/01/ucf-releases-more-evidence-on-planned-campus-attack/) to disable the four IEDs. UCF Police Chief Richard Beary later told CNN that the 911 call from Babakhani (and the speed of the police response prompted by the simultaneous fire alarm) were what prevented a mass-casualty attack. The case became an instructive example in [campus emergency planning](https://nicholsonstudentmedia.com/news/ten-years-since-a-ucf-student-attempted-a-mass-shooting-on-campus/article_86d88fb2-be10-11ed-a663-13cf8da28dcd.html) of how a hostile actor's own diversion plan (pulling the fire alarm to draw victims out) can be counteracted by integrating campus-police response with fire-alarm dispatch.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "The combination of a roommate's 911 call and a simultaneous fire alarm produced one of the fastest documented police responses to a planned campus attack, arriving before any students were shot",
    "Seevakumaran's plan (pulling a fire alarm at midnight to force evacuation into a fatal funnel) illustrates a pattern of would-be attackers exploiting safety protocols, and was specifically referenced in subsequent campus active-shooter training programs",
    "UCF had never seen Seevakumaran at its Counseling and Psychological Services and he had no student conduct record, despite being in the process of eviction, illustrating the gap between housing administrative records and mental-health-system flags",
    "Four functional IEDs were recovered by the Orange County Sheriff's bomb squad along with an AR-15-style rifle, a handgun, and several hundred rounds of ammunition, making this one of the most heavily armed thwarted campus attacks on U.S. record"
  ],
  "responseTimeMinutes": 10,
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "James Seevakumaran, evicted UCF student, ID'd as man found shot dead on campus; planned wider attack, police say (CBS News)",
      "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/james-seevakumaran-evicted-ucf-student-idd-as-man-found-shot-dead-on-campus-planned-wider-attack-police-say/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Former university student found dead in dorm planned larger attack (CNN)",
      "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2013/03/18/us/florida-ucf-body-found",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "UCF attack plotter checked off to-do list except for last item: 'Give them hell' (CNN)",
      "url": "https://www.cnn.com/2013/03/19/us/florida-ucf-plot/index.html",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Ten years since a UCF student attempted a mass shooting on campus (The Charge, Nicholson Student Media)",
      "url": "https://nicholsonstudentmedia.com/news/ten-years-since-a-ucf-student-attempted-a-mass-shooting-on-campus/article_86d88fb2-be10-11ed-a663-13cf8da28dcd.html",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    },
    {
      "title": "UCF Evacuation: Students evacuated from University of Central Florida campus dorm after body and explosives found (CBS News)",
      "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ucf-evacuation-students-evacuated-from-university-of-central-florida-campus-dorm-after-body-and-explosives-found/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "UCF releases more evidence on planned campus attack (News4Jax)",
      "url": "https://www.news4jax.com/news/2013/06/01/ucf-releases-more-evidence-on-planned-campus-attack/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "UCF Gunman's To-Do List Ended With 'Give 'Em Hell' (ABC News)",
      "url": "https://abcnews.com/US/ucf-gunmans-list-ended-give-em-helle/story?id=18762704",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "@UCF on X (Tower 1 incident updates)",
      "url": "https://x.com/UCF",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "@UCF on X (official, verbatim Tower 1)",
      "url": "https://x.com/UCF/status/313666835218309121",
      "type": "official-social"
    },
    {
      "title": "@UCF on X (official, verbatim Tower 1)",
      "url": "https://x.com/UCF/status/313668486624858114",
      "type": "official-social"
    },
    {
      "title": "@UCF on X (official, verbatim Tower 1)",
      "url": "https://x.com/UCF/status/313753471478272000",
      "type": "official-social"
    },
    {
      "title": "@UCF on X (verbatim)",
      "url": "https://x.com/UCF/status/313754020797898755",
      "type": "official-social"
    },
    {
      "title": "@UCF on X (official, verbatim Tower 1)",
      "url": "https://x.com/UCF/status/313778750745616384",
      "type": "official-social"
    },
    {
      "title": "@UCF on X (official, verbatim Tower 1)",
      "url": "https://x.com/UCF/status/313779291370438656",
      "type": "official-social"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "high",
  "tags": [
    "active-shooter",
    "thwarted-attack",
    "explosive-devices",
    "dormitory",
    "fire-alarm-diversion",
    "evicted-student",
    "ucf-alert",
    "2013"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-13",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-20",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}