An unidentified Caucasian man with ginger or blonde hair trespassed into E. Bronson Ingram Residential College following a fire drill on the night of Aug. 28 and entered a student’s room and a bathroom. VUPD later arrested the man for trespassing.
According to junior and EBI resident Adain Luckadue, the man, carrying two plastic bags, followed them and other students to a fourth-floor dorm room following the fire drill and was admitted under the assumption he was someone’s friend. When the students in the room realized the man was trespassing, they left the room. The resident of the room declined to comment.
Luckadue told The Hustler that the man then followed them to their own room.
“As I was walking into my room, he asked me if I wanted to hold his bags. I shielded myself behind my door and saw my friends making sure I was fine from around the corner. I asked him what were in said bags, and when he said, ‘Do you want to see?’ I immediately said ‘no,’” Luckadue said. “I closed the door as he said, ‘See you around. Nice to meet you,’ and I immediately locked the door because I was lowkey terrified.”
Senior Meeros Khattaie was also present in the dorm room that the man entered. She said she messaged a GroupMe for EBI as soon as she realized the man was not a student and that he entered a bathroom across from Luckadue’s room after they closed their door. Khattaie said she contacted her RA — who was on the phone with VUPD about the incident — and shared the whereabouts of the man.
“Afterward, we were downstairs debriefing and writing out the police report. Around 10 p.m. [CDT], we saw that he was escorted out of EBI in handcuffs with several police officers surrounding him,” Khattaie said.
The Head Resident Advisor of EBI declined to comment and directed The Hustler to the Office of Housing and Residential Experience. VUPD and OHARE offered one response on behalf of the university.
“During fire drills on the evening of Aug. 28, an individual unaffiliated with the university entered EBI along with students and was arrested for trespassing by VUPD. Additional security precautions will be taken during future fire drills to avoid any recurrence of trespassing,” the Aug. 29 email reads.
Head of House Dr. Teresa Goddu shared in the EBI GroupMe that ID checks will be required upon building re-entry after fire drills.
