ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The shootings at Florida State University brought back memories of what could have been a disaster on the University of Central Florida a year-and-a-half ago.
In March of 2013 UCF police officers rushed into the dorm room of James Seevakumaran after the student shot and killed himself.
Police said Seevakumaran had just pulled a fire alarm and was planning to go on a deadly shooting rampage as students fled the dorm.
According to police, his notes revealed that he thought he had 10 minutes for the massacre, but when police showed up in just three minutes his plans were ruined so he took his own life.
UCF Police Chief Richard Beary said his biggest takeaway from that event was that seconds matter.
"If we don't get there quickly, people are going to die," said Beary.
Beary has expanded his police force's presence on campus, but admits there is no way to completely prevent a shooting on campus.
"That's the problem with any open society; you have the library here, the mall, your favorite restaurant. Unfortunately, when someone decides to be violent, they're very difficult to prevent," said Beary.
Beary said his department's greatest weapons against violence are the students' eyes and instincts.
"We have to know and have to know quickly. It doesn't do any good to tell us the next day, 'I saw that person and I thought something didn't look right.' We need to know immediately," said Beary.
On Thursday, some students said they were a little more aware of what was going on around them.
"I said if anything ever happened, I'm going down to the basement," said student Guiliana Morais.
Beary just hopes students will keep watching once the memories of what happened at FSU fade.
Channel 9 learned that FSU officers had just had training for an active shooter situation 13 days ago.
The UCF story: Police: Student planned attack on UCF campus before killing self
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