When police searched the Fairfield home of the man found with loaded guns at the University of New Haven campus yesterday, they found a large amount of ammunition and newspaper clippings of mass shootings, West Haven police said this morning.
William Dong, 22, of Fairfield, a commuter student at the University of New Haven, was arrested on Tuesday afternoon and has been charged with illegal possession of assault weapon (exception) illegal transport of an assault weapon, breach of peace and illegal possession of a weapon in motor vehicle.
He is being held on $500,000 bond.
Police started investigating when someone called police to report seeing a man carrying a rifle near campus.
“A little after one 1 p.m, West Haven police received a 911 call from a concerned citizen saying they saw a male get out of a vehicle with a long gun in the area by Campbell Avenue and Ruben Street," said West Haven Police Sgt. David Tammaro. The caller told police the man was walking toward campus.
Police said they recovered several rifle magazines from a blue Toyota RAV4 that was parked near the ShopRite and McDonald'sat 1131 Campbell Avenue. That car was towed form the scene on Tuesday afternoon.
Authorities also recovered the rifle Dong was allegedly carrying, but police haven't said where that gun was found.
West Haven police said Dong was taken into custody on campus within 20 minutes of the call coming in. Police said he had two loaded handguns in his possession.
No shots were fired during the incident and no one was hurt, police said.
A student who said she was in biology class with Dong prior to the incident told NBC Connecticut he got up and left during a test and was later arrested near that same classroom building. The class began at 12:15 p.m. and the campus-wide alert went out about 30 minutes later, the student said.
It's not clear what Dong's intentions might have been, but friends have called the incident a "huge misunderstanding" and said Dong was often confused about where he was allowed to carry guns.
"It was a shock," said Thomas Wething, who went to high school with Dong and watched police search his home from across the street. "I was questioning it at first."
Dong's best friend, Manuel Pallares, said Dong carries weapons every day to protect himself while working at an armored truck company that delivers money.
"I'm pretty sure he's not going to go out and shoot people," Pallares said. "He frowns on those people. He hates hearing about gun violence."
On Tuesday evening, West Haven police launched a search of Dong's home on Stratfield Road.
Police left the house around 10 p.m. and said they would return on Wednesday to continue collecting evidence.
Fairfield police said Dong has legal gun permits for two handguns, but they haven't specified whether those are the same guns recovered yesterday.
Authorities in West Haven and Fairfield are working to answer the question of why.
"We want to know what his intent was up there because we want to know whether there was an intent here," Fairfield Police Chief Gary MacNamara said.
Dong lives with other family members, according to neighbors, who said they don't know the family personally and that there have never been any issues there.
But MacNamara said police have responded to the home before. He didn't elaborate, but said the previous incidents were not as serious. Police also said they were not looking for any additional suspects.
All afternoon and evening classes at UNH on Tuesday were canceled, according to the university. The lockdown was lifted just before 5:30 p.m.
The nearby ShopRite was also locked down and the manager of the McDonald's earlier reported seeing FBI in the area, searching a car and gathering fingerprints.
Forest Elementary School and Carrigan Intermediate School were given a "shelter in place" order because of the situation, but the modified lockdown was lifted after school officials consulted with police.
Notre Dame High School, which is located near the school, was locked down, then dismissed students with the help of West Haven Police.
This situation came about a week after a lockdown and massive police presence at Yale University, located just miles away.
In that case, police received a call from someone who reported that his roommate was on his way to the Ivy League school to shoot people. Part of the campus remained on lockdown for about seven hours and no threat was found.
Last month, Central Connecticut State University in New Britain was locked down after a man in a Halloween costume sparked a massive police presence.
Photo Credit: Marc Weilandics