The 22-year-old Guyanese, who created chaos last month at the St John’s University in New York after he was seen walking around the campus armed with a rifle, was yesterday found incompetent to stand trial for the offence and was ordered held in a state psychiatric facility by a Queens Criminal Court judge, according to an Associated Press (AP) report.
Omesh Hiraman of Jackson Heights, Queens, who is said to have migrated to the US several years ago, was seen on September 26 wearing a Halloween mask while armed with the rifle. He was subdued by a campus security guard and police cadet.
Defence attorney Anthony Collelouri yesterday said that his client is schizophrenic and that back surgery worsened his condition.
The report added that authorities said Hiraman bought the rifle and 100 rounds of ammunition legally at a Poughkeepsie mall, but did not have a New York City permit. They said that when he was apprehended, he was wearing a Halloween-type mask and had the gun sticking out of a plastic bag.
