AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
UNC-Chapel Hill students attending a “Love Island” watch party hosted by Black student organizations were terrified Monday night when a man entered the room and began to harass and threaten students, attendees say.
Read more Broncos Star Jonathon Cooper Pleads Not Guilty to Domestic Violence Charges
The white male perpetrator, who is unaffiliated with the school, “used insensitive, racialized language, and made gestures that led several students to believe he may have had a weapon,” student body president Devin Duncan said in an email to fellow student leaders that he shared with The News & Observer.
A suspect, who UNC has not named, was apprehended by UNC Police before 10 p.m. Monday, shortly after the incident at the watch party in the university’s Greenlaw Hall. He was admitted to the hospital due to apparent mental distress, according to a university spokesperson. After he is medically cleared, the man will be charged with disorderly conduct, vandalism, damage to property, and assault, the spokesperson said. He will also be banned from campus.
The watch party drew between 80 and 100 students who were predominately freshmen students of color, according to Makhi Nash, president of UNC’s Black Student Movement, who attended the watch party.
At first, students thought the man might be a professor, according to Nash. That impression quickly changed when he started arguing, stealing food from students, throwing things, and spraying something from a can. When he began to dig in his bag, students panicked.
Attendees were under the impression that had a gun, Nash said, and hid under desks and chairs. When he left the room, students fled in a panic, with many sobbing and leaving behind their belongings, according to Sydney Phillips, secretary of the Black Student Movement, who was also present at the watch party.
The incident report from UNC Police lists “Other” in its “Weapons/tools” field, though it doesn’t name a specific weapon. The report also does not provide the name of the man.
Video footage from Monday night shows the man yelling and lunging at multiple students on campus before he entered Greenlaw, according to Duncan. The man approached Black students on campus, “saying things like ‘You’re the reason that the university is going to fall,’” Nash said.
The district attorney’s office is responsible for determining whether the incident amounts to a hate crime, UNC pointed out. Jeff Neiman, district attorney for Orange and Chatham counties, told The N&O that his office will review the case and determine the best way to prosecute it based on the facts available.
This incident comes as the third week of classes gets underway at UNC and freshmen are just getting settled.
“I’m especially saddened that these students were simply gathering for a social event, to build friendships, find community and enjoy time together,” Duncan told The N&O. “No student should experience that kind of fear in a space where they came to feel a sense of belonging.”
Read more NC’s Chuck Edwards apologizes but defends himself as House considers censure
Nash said he is proud of the way student leaders responded Monday night, but said the incident also leaves work to be done.
“Black leaders around the campus are really working to make sure that we have safety protocols in place in case something happens like this again,” Nash said. “In the aftermath, it’s still very traumatic and very sad that we’re still going through this. But we’re glad that we have the community that we have here to stand together to support each other.”
Many of the student organizations that hosted the event have taken to social media to voice their outrage and regret about the incident.
“It is deeply concerning that an individual with no apparent connection to the University was able to enter Greenlaw 101 and proceed to vehemently harass and verbally abuse our students, directing racial language toward a room filled predominantly with Black and Brown students,” reads a statement from UNC’s African Student Association, which helped host the event. “… We hope that this incident can serve as an opportunity to address the gaps that allowed an unaffiliated individual to enter the event and disrupt a space where our students should have felt safe.”
Both Nash and Phillips appreciated the police’s swift response — the university says the man was apprehended within 17 minutes of receiving the first dispatch call — but wished for clearer communication from the university about the status of the threat as the night progressed.
Samuel Fuh, vice president of the UNC chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers, who was at the watch party, feels the same.
“A lot of people were still unsure if anyone had been detained, if they could get their stuff, or if anyone got hurt,” Fuh said. “I was with a group of about 13 people with just three or four phones between us because most people didn’t have their phones with them when they ran. There was a girl in my group who was almost inconsolable.”
UNC says it did not issue a campus-wide alert Monday night because it didn’t identify an ongoing threat to campus safety. Fuh says he wished the school sent one out, if only to inform students of that fact.
The school says it is working to connect students who were at the watch party or affected by the events with supportive services.
“He may have done this act,” Nash said, “But we want to make sure that he doesn’t win by deterring people from attending events and deterring organizations from hosting events.”
Read more Multiple flies, raw chicken on the floor: 4 Triangle restaurants earn ‘B’ grades