Massacre thwarted at Florida university campus

A planned massacre by a disgruntled student was thwarted today at the University of Central Florida.

Police said James Oliver Seevakumaran, 30, had assembled a large arsenal, including a high capacity drum magazine and home made bombs, but took his own life as police closed in on him, ABC News reported.

Seevakumaran, who was in the process of being kicked out of his dorm on the campus, had written a timeline and elaborate plan for the mass attack, University Police Chief Richard Beary told reporters.

Hundreds of University of Central Florida students in Orlando were evacuated after his body was found Monday morning. 

"While the crime scene processing was under way in that room, we found some notes and some writings that indicated that this was a planned attack," UCF Police Chief Richard Beary told reporters, CNN reported.

He said Seevakumaran's plan appeared to have begun last month when he began purchasing weapons. 

"It could have been a very bad day for everybody here. All things considered, I think that we were very blessed here at the University of Central Florida," he told reporters.

The massacre was thwarted after Seevakumaran let off a fire alarm at the Tower 1 dormitory and then pointed a weapon at his room mate who immediately called 911.

UCF reported on its website that campus police were alerted at 12:20 AM to the presence of a man with a gun, prompting them to rush to Tower 1, a dormitory.

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When they arrived, a young man was found dead of a gunshot room, surrounded by improvised explosive devices, an assualt weapon, and a handgun, UCF said.

Students were evacuated from the building, and quickly redirected to a neighboring building for counseling and a chance to get some rest. Some 500 students were evacuated, wrote the BBC.

The students were sent a text message noting that they had to evacuate due to a "suspicious death," noted Reuters, although they were soon reassured that they were in no immediate danger.

The FBI has stepped in to investigate the incident along with the Orange County police and University of Central Florida officers writes the Orlando Sentinel, which added that no written plan or manifesto has yet been found to accompany the young man's body.

"Everyone in the apartment thought it was a fire so we just grabbed whatever we could," said Tower 1 resident Hank Kleinberg to the Orlando Sentinel.

"From what I've heard about what's going on, I'm kinda glad they got me out of the building because I heard 'explosives, assault weapons.'"