ST. JOHN'S ON A 'RED' ALERT: TEXTS WARN KIDS OF MASKED CAMPUS RIFLEMAN (STUDENTS SAVED BY THE CELL)

NY POST ^ | 09/27/2007 | MURRAY WEISS, LARRY CELONA, PATRICK GALLAHUE and CATHY BURKE

[SirLinksalot]

A St. John's student, lugging a loaded rifle and wearing a creepy Hallow een mask on the campus yesterday, was wrestled into custody by a quick-- thinking NYPD cadet and guard - and within min utes, students were text- messaged to stay put while cops swarmed the grounds.

Frightened students -- locked into classrooms, the gym and cafeteria at the Queens university - were both relieved at the timely warning and scared stiff at the prospect of a sicko sniper stalking the sprawl ing campus.

"I thought it would be Vir ginia Tech right here," said Rakesh Dalal, 46, who was at the Catholic school's finan cial aid office.

But thanks to a new text-messaging system put in place at the "Red Storm" university earlier this month - and the lightning-quick arrest of 22-year-old Omesh Hiraman, of Jackson Heights - no shots were fired.

"He said he wanted to carry a gun and . . . feel powerful," a law enforcement source said. "He said he wasn't looking to hurt anyone."

Police said the apprehension of Hiraman came around 2:30 p.m., and just eight minutes later, the first text was relayed to students:

"From Public Safety. Male was found on campus with rifle. Please stay in your buildings until further notice. He is in custody, but please wait until the all-clear."

The message went out a second time at 2:46 p.m.

At 3:32 p.m., an update was issued: "NYPD officers in Queens are conducting a building-by-building search. Please stay put."

NYPD cadet Chris Benson, a student, spotted Hiraman lugging a suspicious-looking bag and tailed him. A security guard then stopped him from going into a building, grabbing the single-shot, .50-caliber rifle.

Students were largely unaware of the dramatic events but were quickly informed to stay put and await further messages.

[SirLinksalot]

Omesh Hiraman is lead away by police after walking through St. John's campus in Queens wearing a Halloween mask and carrying a loaded shotgon. He was apprehended and no one was injured.



St. John's University student Adam Sieja displays the text message he received at 2:40 p.m. from public safety that a man with a rifle was spotted on campus.







In this photo released by the New York City Police Department, a costume-styled mask lays on the ground after being taken from an armed student at St. John's University yesterday. The masked college student was apprehended after walking through the campus of St. John's University armed with a single-shot rifle, police said.



Security Officer Dan Boylan and NYPD Cadet and St. John's student apprehended Hiraman. Omesh Hiraman was arrested at St. John's University with a rifle and a mask; his intentions are unknown as of this photo.

[NRA1995]

Build whipping post, tie perp to it, flog perp to the bone, give perp salt water washdown, dump perp in remote desert area, preferably the Sahara Desert.

[Resolute Conservative]

Not a .50 caliber rifle doofus.

[EagleUSA]

Nice job by those on the scene — now little Chuckie “anti-Constitution” Schumer will be screaming “DISARM AMERICA” again -— just watch. Omesh, eh? Does not sound like an Irish name to me.

[EEDUDE]

The rifle shown is a .50 cal MUZZLE LOADER.

[perfect_rovian_storm]

STUDENTS SAVED BY THE CELL

I knew that crappy Jennifer Lopez movie would be good for something some day. At first, I thought I'd never get those two miserable hours of my life back...

[badbass]

Good on the student and the security guard. R.O.P. alert?
I see the dreaded .50 caliber single shot rifle shotgun combination was used.

[bannie]

Omesh Hiraman

[RoseofTexas]

"Omesh Hiraman"

Don't tell, let me guess...a MOOSLIM?

[Southack]

That mask isn’t going to win him much sympathy from a jury, even though he was only carrying a muzzle-loaded rifle.

I predict: time.

[Charles Martel]

The rifle shown is a .50 cal MUZZLE LOADER.

Is that a ramrod ferrule on the underside of the barrel?

[RoseofTexas]

"his intentions are unknown"

HUH?

[agere_contra]

They weren’t saved by the cell. They were saved by two quick-thinking and quick-acting people.

[SirLinksalot]

Don't tell, let me guess...a MOOSLIM?

That should never be mentioned /sarc

[SirLinksalot]

I forgot to add the caption to the picture of the weapon ( see above).

Here it is :

"In this photo released by the New York City Police Department, an officer displays a .50 caliber, single shot rifle that was taken from a masked college student who was carrying it around St. John's University in Queens. No one was injured in the incident."

[agere_contra]

His name doesn’t appear to be natively muslim, but yeah: I think so.

It’s pretty circumstantial, but a white shirt can be a sign of a wanna-be Shaheed. I wonder if he’s washed his, you-know, as well.

[EEDUDE]

“Is that a ramrod ferrule on the underside of the barrel?”

Sure looks like it.

I’m sure someone will be along to accurately identify that gun.

There are some inline muzzle loaders that use a shotgun primer instead of a percussion cap and break at the breech for loading the primer.

It is definitely NOT a gun that shoots the .50 cal BMG round, (the recoil from that size gun would break your shoulder) but I bet the press won’t say that.

[PapaBear3625]

even though he was only carrying a muzzle-loaded rifle

A muzzle-loader can still kill somebody. Sure, it only fires once, and then you have to spend a minute reloading.

Then again, how many people did the DC sniper kill, firing a single shot and then moving on?

re: why a muzzle loader? You can buy one without showing ID or having to go through a background check, like you have to for a modern firearm

[EEDUDE]

With the black synthetic stock I’m sure the press will call it an “assault muzzle loader”.

[EEDUDE]

“A muzzle-loader can still kill somebody.”

You bet they can.

Every kind of big game animal in Africa has been taken using muzzle loading rifles.