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UMW police confiscate gun from student at Eagle Landing

TFred

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UMW police confiscate gun from student at Eagle Landing

Just after 10 p.m. Monday, University of Mary Washington Police were notified that a student in Eagle Landing was in possession of a handgun, according to a notice to the UMW community from Doug Searcy, vice president for student affairs.

Campus police responded to the scene and determined that there were no bullets and confiscated the gun.

They also determined that the incident posed no ongoing threat to Eagle Landing or the university and a UMW alert was not issued.

The student was placed on interim suspension, pending an administrative hearing.

It is against UMW’s code of conduct for students to keep, use, possess, display or carry any lethal or dangerous devices.

—Robyn Sidersky
Eagle Landing is a new part of the UMW campus built across Route 1 from the main campus. There are student apartments, commercial and retail space, and a parking garage. It's adjacent to the former Park and Shop shopping center, anchored by a Giant food store, and soon a new hotel.

TFred
 

TFred

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Many more details in the UMW Student newspaper.

TFred


Campus Police Seize Handgun in Eagle Landing

On Monday night shortly after 10 p.m., University of Mary Washington police confiscated a handgun from a student on the third floor of Eagle Landing, after students who saw the weapon reported it to the campus police.

Doug Searcy, vice president of Student Affairs, said that the campus police determined there was no ongoing threat in the apartment building. The student in possession of the gun was identified and detained, and the weapon was removed immediately.

Searcy also said that in situations such as this, it is important to know and ask why the person had a weapon on campus, but he declined to comment on the specifics of this case. He would not identify the student.

The possession of the weapon violated the UMW Code of Conduct.

“No student may keep, use, possess, display, or carry any lethal or dangerous devices capable of casting a projectile, any martial arts weapons, any toy weapon resembling any real weapon, any swords, any illegal knives or knives with a blade longer than five inches, any explosives (including fireworks or sparklers) or any other such devices that could be used to threaten the health or safety of a person or property,” the Code of Conduct states, as listed in the Student Handbook.

“A weapon within the tight confines of a University campus can pose a potential hazard and jeopardize the safety and security of our community,” Searcy said.

The student who had the weapon was issued an administrative referral. According to Searcy, this means the student will face judicial charges, and an administrative hearing will result. However, there is no set penalty for the charge.

“There are no set minimums or maximums… but the University considers weapons on campus to be very serious issue,” Searcy said.

Since there was “no ongoing threat” to the community, according to Searcy, students and residents of Eagle Landing were not notified of the situation or of the firearm in the building.

However, when informed of the incident by the Bullet, this made third floor resident junior Jenna Randall apprehensive.

“I haven’t heard anything about that,” she said. “If there was someone with a handgun on my floor, I feel like that’s something the school should tell me about.”

Sophomore Dimitri Georgiadis said that he heard rumors about the incident from his roommate, but wasn’t really sure what the situation was.

“I thought it was odd that we didn’t get a campus crime alert,” Georgiadis said.

He said that if there was a credible threat, then the University should have sent out an alert, but he wasn’t sure of the situation.
 

riverrat10k

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knives

"any illegal knives or knives with a blade longer than five inches, "

So, I guess my filet knife and carving knife among others I own are illegal on campus, no to mention my machete that I use for work.

Assinine policy.
 

brlong23

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I OC over there pretty frequently and have yet to have a negative encounter. I usually frequent Salad Creations once a week to grab a good lunch and although I may recieve a strange look now and again, nobody has said anything and the staff there has yet to ask me to leave. I'm assuming that when they say Eagles Landing, they are refering to the actual apartment complex owned by the University as opposed to the surrounding commercial buildings such as Poncho Villa and the like?

Also of note, I am not a student nor affiliated with the university so their administrative policies have no affect on me either.
 
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peter nap

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"any illegal knives or knives with a blade longer than five inches, "

So, I guess my filet knife and carving knife among others I own are illegal on campus, no to mention my machete that I use for work.

Assinine policy.

Yep...it is RR, but it is the school policy. Someone ratted him out.

I'm not sure where the story is in this unless it's "If you keep a gun (Knife, Machete, Sharp Stick, Etc) in violation of school policy, keep it hidden".
 

TFred

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I OC over there pretty frequently and have yet to have a negative encounter. I usually frequent Salad Creations once a week to grab a good lunch and although I may recieve a strange look now and again, nobody has said anything and the staff there has yet to ask me to leave. I'm assuming that when they say Eagles Landing, they are refering to the actual apartment complex owned by the University as opposed to the surrounding commercial buildings such as Poncho Villa and the like?

Also of note, I am not a student nor affiliated with the university so their administrative policies have no affect on me either.
Yes, it was confirmed in The Bullet article that it was in the student apartment section.

TFred
 

sawah

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I swear I looked...but, at 6 am, who can really see straight. Thanks TFred.

o_0
 

skidmark

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That probably doesn't give the campus police legal authority to seize his property without due process. No laws were (apparently) broken...

Roscoe

As I understand how rights are trampled, they have even more authority to both seize and then confiscate his property without what we would consider to be due process of law. Between the Student Code of Conduct and the Virginia Administrative Code (VAC) he's pretty much boned.

As far as "No laws were (apparently) broken ...." I beg to differ with you. At the very least he committed criminal trespass, which is IIRC - 'cause I'm not going to bother to go look up the VAC for MWU's no-gunz policy - a misdemeanor as well as a civil offense that could get him expelled.

stay safe.
 

TFred

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As I understand how rights are trampled, they have even more authority to both seize and then confiscate his property without what we would consider to be due process of law. Between the Student Code of Conduct and the Virginia Administrative Code (VAC) he's pretty much boned.

As far as "No laws were (apparently) broken ...." I beg to differ with you. At the very least he committed criminal trespass, which is IIRC - 'cause I'm not going to bother to go look up the VAC for MWU's no-gunz policy - a misdemeanor as well as a civil offense that could get him expelled.

stay safe.
Criminal trespass seems pretty stretchy to me. He's a student in his own dorm apartment. He's paid rent to be there. He broke a rule, a condition of that lease, perhaps, but does that mean you are now a trespasser in your own home? Why do they need judges to evict people? Why can't landlords just declare them in violation of a lease agreement and then have them arrested for criminal trespass?

I don't know, someone fill us in.

TFred
 

riverrat10k

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I didn't realize UMW had a firearms prohibition in the VAC....

Roscoe

I think you are correct, Roscoe. VCU, and what GMU?


Peter Nap said:

Yep...it is RR, but it is the school policy. Someone ratted him out.

I'm not sure where the story is in this unless it's "If you keep a gun (Knife, Machete, Sharp Stick, Etc) in violation of school policy, keep it hidden". .

This is what is so sad, Peter. I'm younger than you by a bit, and even at my age, many guys had shotguns and rifles in the car during hunting season.

The only bad gun incident I remember is the one dude who shot out a power transformer in the school parking lot with a .357. He ended up doing time. Nutty dude.
 
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