Student charged with aggravated assault during campus lockdown

This story was updated Nov. 13 at 11:10 a.m.

By Caroline Haviland

As students sat in academic, residence and recreational buildings across campus, a universitywide Rider Alert titled “Shelter in place” was sent at 1:57 p.m. on Nov. 10. In the ensuing 40 minutes, university members were informed of the reasoning through additional, urgent universitywide text and email communications: an alleged assault on campus.

The initial alert contained a single statement; “This is NOT a drill. There is an active investigation on campus. More details to follow.” 

According to a press release from the Lawrence Police, officers arrested junior acting for television, film and theater major Alex Theis, who was charged with aggravated assault, terroristic threats and various weapon offenses. The 21-year-old Delran man was apprehended near Moore Library, according to Lawrence Police. 

Police reported that a suspect armed with a knife confronted and threatened several people inside Poyda Hall, according to the press release.

Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office Public Information Officer Casey DeBlasio said Theis was detained in the Mercer County Correction Center following his arrest. 

After his court hearing on Nov. 12, Chief Judge Marc McKithen ordered Theis’ release pending future court proceedings, DeBlasio said.

Last month, Theis appeared in Rider’s production of “Lost Girl” in the Yvonne Theater as the role of “Nibs / Detective,” according to the performance’s program.

In an email to The Rider News on Nov. 11, Director of Communications Rachel Stengel declined to comment, due to legal reasons, on Theis’ student status and if he has been banned from Rider’s campus. 

Junior film and television major Owen Nelson, a community assistant in Poyda, told The Rider News on Nov. 10 that the incident occurred on the fourth floor of the residence hall where the suspect drew a knife on a group of residents, threatened them and then fled the scene. 

Nelson said he felt the university handled the situation well, as a shelter-in-place with the presence of Lawrence Police at the scene kept safety as a “number one priority.”

Less than 10 minutes after the initial communication, Nelson said he received a call from Poyda’s Community Director Kierra Jones, telling him to stay away from the building until it was reported safe. 

Nelson said the CD sent a text to all of Poyda’s residents 15 minutes later, which said, “Everyone should stay locked in their rooms or stay away from the building, the police and Public Safety are here and they’ll get to the bottom of this. I’d hate to scare anyone, but I’d rather we overreact and be overly safe than for something to happen.” 

By 2:37 p.m., a final Rider Alert lifted the shelter-in-place and said there was no active threat to campus, stating that the suspect was apprehended and there were no reported injuries. Classes and campus operations were to resume as scheduled.

Public Safety sent out a universitywide email at 9:10 p.m. on Nov. 10 detailing the transpired events that led to the day’s shelter-in-place. 

Jessi Oliano, a graphic design professor, was doing an Adobe Photoshop demonstration during her 1:10 p.m. photography class in Fine Arts Room 223 when she was informed by a student of the shelter-in-place. 

Oliano serves as a building marshal for the second floor of Fine Arts, a person who, in case of an emergency, is responsible for ensuring everyone’s safety. Upon hearing of the Rider Alert, Oliano said she tried to act as quickly as possible. 

“I really do care about my students and their safety. I had some of the stronger students help flip a couple of the tables and put them in front of those doors and we turned off the lights,” Oliano said. “I wanted to make sure everyone’s mental health was as good as possible during that time. I kept checking in on the students, and things like that.”

After not receiving a followup Rider Alert for almost 20 minutes after the initial communication, Oliano said she and her students were “really anxious,” but everyone comforted one another at the time. 

During the university’s last shelter-in-place in April 2023, which Oliano said “shook [her] to [her] core,” she was teaching in the same room as Monday’s incident and said it forced her to remain as calm as possible upon revisiting this past experience. 

The 2023 incident occurred after Rider received an anonymous call threatening gun violence on campus. Public Safety and police later determined there was no danger, and the incident was a “swatting” false threat.

Former Rider President Gregory Dell’Omo shared a universitywide email on April 3, 2023, regarding the last shelter-in-place, hours after it was lifted. Despite other campuswide communications on Nov. 10, a message from the Office of the President was not sent out.

In an interview with The Rider News on Nov. 11, new Rider President John Loyack said, “Historically in situations I’ve been in, those [communications] come from student affairs and Public Safety and those communications certainly did go out, including how it all wound up, relative to the police investigation.”