Daniel Choi PO ’15 was half-asleep Tuesday night when a rock flew through his window, shattering the glass and narrowly missing him.
Choi’s window was one of at least 15 hit by an individual who went on a rock-throwing spree on the Pomona College and Claremont McKenna College campuses late Tuesday night. Campus Safety has identified the perpetrator, according to Director Shahram Ariane.
“I’m not at liberty to reveal the identity of the person who committed this act … or other details of this incident,” Ariane wrote in an e-mail to TSL. “A full report of this incident has been forwarded to the proper authorities for further appropriate action.”
Affected buildings included Pomona’s Oldenborg residence hall and CMC’s Beckett residence hall and Collins Dining Hall.
The perpetrator threw rocks at both Choi’s Oldenborg first floor window and his suite’s common room window around 10:30 p.m.
“I heard a loud booming sound, then large shards of glass rained down on me,” he said. “I panicked and was actually frozen for a minute or so, then called Campus Security.”
When the officers arrived they mentioned that they had gotten multiple similar reports, and the maintenance staff member who came about an hour later said he had covered eight broken windows already that night.
“I consider myself lucky because, literally, shards of glass landed next to my face,” Choi said.
Another Oldenborg first floor resident, Julien Breistroff PO ’15, was deejaying Pomona’s Table Manners party Tuesday night and came home to find his window shattered and a rock in the middle of the floor.
The perpetrator later attacked windows on CMC’s campus. Shortly after midnight, Oliver Seifert CM ’16 was laying in bed in his Beckett first floor double when he heard a loud bang and jumped out of bed.
“There was glass all over the room and beds,” Seifert said. “I saw a rock in the middle—it was bigger than fist-size. The person damaged the dining hall pretty badly too.”
After speaking with Campus Security officers, Seifert and his roommate attempted to clean the glass up, but he found pieces in his shoes in the morning.
Pomona Dean of Campus Life Piya Bose sent an e-mail to the student body about the incidents Wednesday afternoon.
“The vandalism was not targeted at any particular individuals and were random,” Bose wrote.
Choi said he wished a safety alert had been sent to students when the rock-thrower was at large.
“When it first happened the reason I was paralyzed was that I realized the person must have been right outside my window,” he said. “When I heard that it was just one person on a rampage, I was actually a little relieved that I wasn’t targeted.”