An intruder entered Lafayette Hall and spoke to students before being escorted out by police Sunday night, the fourth break-in at an NYU dormitory in two weeks.
An attacker evaded security at Lafayette Hall on Sunday night. (Samson Tu for WSN)
Around 5:40 p.m. Sunday, the attacker bypassed security, jumped a turnstile and entered NYU’s Lafayette Hall dormitory. He was found 20 minutes later by an NYU Campus Security officer and escorted out of the building by police. At that time, he was communicating with two students inside the building.
A student spotted the man in the building and alerted dorm staff, who notified campus security and the NYPD.
The intruder, identified by Campus Safety as a man named Andrew Krost, was found in a stairwell. He did not give a reason for his actions, according to NYU spokesman John Beckman. Beckman said campus security officers arrived at Lafayette minutes after they were told of the incident, and that the NYPD arrived minutes after that.
“We take this intrusion — as we do all intrusions into dorms — very seriously, especially since it happened so soon after the Third North incident,” Beckman said.
Lafayette residents were not notified until the next day in an email sent shortly after 11 a.m. by dorm director Joe Liberatore.
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NYU student Khafira Freeman said Krost followed her and another student into the elevator after he entered the building. When Crosst exited the elevator on her floor, Freeman decided to hide in the laundry room, but followed her. She tried to close the laundry room door, but Krost was able to open it. He asked her if she was hiding from him.
Freeman then ran to her room, locked the door and reported the incident to campus security and building staff.
“When I ran to my room, he asked: ‘Where do you live?’ I want to see where you end up,’” Freeman recalls. “I didn’t say anything. He opened and closed it – locked it, went to his roommate. She grabbed the knife.”
She said she filed a complaint later that day because of the lack of communication with Campus Safety after the altercation.
“The problem is that there’s no constant communication when that happens — when I’m scared in my room.”
Another junior, Damascus Lee, who is a resident assistant at Lafayette, said he learned of the intruder after a police officer arrived and told him to close the door to his room. He added that campus security should have sent an email to residents notifying them that an intruder was in the building at the time of the incident.
“It’s a very unfortunate situation and I’m very sad that this happened and I understand why people wouldn’t feel safe in Lafayette or in the area after this happened,” Lee said. “I really don’t want people to feel scared or unsafe because even though this was a very horrific incident and I can see why it has heightened your fears, I really do feel safe in this area. »
Five days ago, an intruder dodged a university dormitory on Third Avenue North. Despite an eight-hour search, campus security and the NYPD were unable to locate the intruder. This intruder entered the guest’s room while the student was sleeping and stared at the student before leaving.
Another hack earlier this month eluded security in Alumni Hall and the Queen’s Tower in separate incidents reported two hours apart. A Coral Tower resident said campus security officials did not take them seriously when they said they may have come into contact with an intruder in the building.
Last April, another intruder entered Rubin Hall at least three times. According to several residents, the man stayed in the hostel’s living rooms twice. He made contact with students in the dormitory and followed several female students when they left. Fountain Walker, head of campus security, later said that the department’s response to the attacker didn’t make it.
Lafayette also had a repeat dorm offender last year when a woman not affiliated with NYU made comments of a sexual nature residents after entering their apartments.
Beckman said a photo of Krost, the man who entered Lafayette Hall, has been sent to campus security positions in the university dormitories so officers can identify him in the future.
“The response was prompt and effective, but Campus Safety leadership will review the incident to see if there are lessons that can be learned to prevent a recurrence,” he said.
Correction, November 21 at 12:45 p.m.: An earlier version of this article stated that the attacker had been detained. There are no arrest records for a person with his name. The article has been updated to reflect the correction. WSN regrets the error.
Contact Karma Moniz, Lauren Ash and Tori Morales at [email protected]
