A man was detained Tuesday afternoon after running into the Ammerman Building and barricading himself inside a file room, claiming to be “chased,” according to officials.
The incident occurred at approximately 12:05 p.m. when the individual, who Suffolk police said was not a student and possessed a pocketknife but did not display it, entered the third floor of the building.
According to a campus-wide alert, the man walked past staff and shut himself inside a file room. No threats were made toward the college or its students by the individual, but appeared to be “under stress.”
For a short time, the Ammerman Building was closed “out of an abundance of caution,” and college staff quickly ushered staff members out of the building, the alert said.
Suffolk police apprehended the man, whose identity as of Wednesday afternoon was not released. Police did not say if he would face any charges.
The incident left some students feeling a combination of compassion for the staff inside the Ammerman Building at the time and uneasiness about safety on campus.
Public Safety did not respond to a request for comment.
“I feel terrible for anyone who had to endure that, but I’m also not really surprised either,” said Ivis Bustillo, 19, a psychology major from North Babylon. “There’s bomb threats all the time, and always something on the news. For someone to just come onto our campus with a knife is truly terrible and scary, but here on Long Island, it’s all the time. I do believe public safety should really double their security so things like this don’t happen again.”
Cristina Ponce, 19, an exercise science major from North Babylon, also said she felt bad “for the people who saw it happen first hand,” but believes SCCC should tighten its security. Ponce said “high schools and middle schools have better security and I feel are harder to get into. This place is too open and I’ve noticed that anyone can just walk on campus, like now, and that’s an issue.”
