Police arrested an Ohio University senior carrying two loaded guns in Alden Library last night, after he had held his roommate at gunpoint Monday.
The Athens and OU police departments responded to a call at about 9:20 p.m. from a library employee who said a suspicious man had been walking around the second floor Learning Commons for hours.
The police came onto the second floor, spoke with reference desk employees and started evacuating half of the floor quietly and quickly, said Florian Hemmann, a library employee.
Officers cleared students and staff from the half of the floor closest to the Park Place entrance before confronting the suspect, Ryan Salim, who was located near the elevators, according to an OUPD incident report.
The police took Salim, 25, into custody and charged him with abduction and two counts of carrying a concealed weapon.
Though police could not estimate how many students were on the second floor, no one was hurt at the time of the incident.
I was at a computer station
and all of a sudden I heard cops yelling 'Get on the ground; get on the ground; where's the guns? said Mike Cunnington, an OU sophomore.
Cunnington, who was about 30 feet away, said the officers took multiple weapons from what he described as a thicker, white male wearing a heavy metal t-shirt.
(The police) came loaded to deal with a major threat he said.
Salim's roommate, who had been forced to drive Salim around Ohio, went to OUPD at 7 p.m. Tuesday after escaping, said APD Lt. Anthony Fish. Officers immediately began looking for Salim.
OU sophomore Kristin Compiseno, who was at the second floor of the library last night, said she got up from her computer to use her cell phone in the stairwell when the police appeared and wrestled Salim to the ground.
The cops all had guns and one was pointing (a gun) at him
Compiseno said. They said if he didn't give up the guns they would put one in his head.
The Learning Commons remained open after Salim's arrest.
Students on other floors of the library were unaware of the incident until word of mouth carried the news.
OU junior Carleen Risaliti said she was studying on the fifth floor when a friend on the second floor and witness to the incident went up to tell her.
It's shocking that things like this happen and you have no idea about it until someone tells you the next day
said Kevin Lieske, a junior who was on the fourth floor.
Salim, of Steubenville, was kept at the Southeast Ohio Regional Jail overnight on a $20,000 bond and has a 9:30 a.m. hearing at the Athens County Municipal Court.
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Carolyn Casey
