"The caller said that there was an intoxicated person making threats and waving a knife around," said the College's Chief of Police, John Carter. The police confirmed that nobody had been injured by the knife owner, but by the time officers arrived at the scene, the man had fled from the premises.
"When the police arrived there were about a dozen people in the parking lot, and they gave a description," said Carter, describing the scene recorded in the police report. "The people who had been threatened had already left."
Using the description given to them by witnesses, who had been attending a party in the dormitory's common area, the police apprehended the knifeman as he walked down Route 9. After stopping the armed party-crasher, the police detained him and then contacted Amherst's town police. The town police took the man to the police station and placed him in protective custody. He was inebriated at the time of his arrest.
Although the reactions among Mayo-Smith residents varied slightly, none appeared overly concerned about the presence of an armed stranger at an Amherst party.
Sophomore Tomas Morrissey was unflustered by the events of Tuesday night. "Stuff like this happens; you can't get phased by it," he said. "It's not like this happens at every party, and you can't let something like this deter your regular behavior."
Students across campus shared the sentiments of the Mayo residents. Lucy Sheehan '08 said she did not feel unsafe after the incident. "I'm sure that this situation is not unique to Amherst. I actually feel like the problem would be much more severe on a larger or more urban campus," she said. "I'm not more nervous about walking around on campus now than I was before the event. It's also not like this type of thing happens every weekend."
While most students believe that the knife incident was a relatively minor issue and predicted that few other events like it would transpire over the course of the year, other students remarked on the inevitability of such events happening.
Harrison Lakehomer '09 expressed the belief that any college party scene breeds such unfortunate events. "In college I feel like this sort of thing just happens," he said. "When you have a lot of kids trying to let loose a bit during the weekend, then you add alcohol, it's like a formula for these things to happen."
Carter suggested that there are simple precautionary measures that students can take to limit the amount of criminal activity on campus. He advocated carefully monitoring who is admitted to weekend parties that take place in the social quad and the triangle in particular.
"When you have events that happen at the residence halls you have to be careful who you let in," he said. "Not everyone who comes to these parties is a Five College student."
Carter added that if a situation escalates as it did at Mayo, the best course of action to take is to contact the police immediately.