A Lafayette College student was sent to the hospital early Saturday morning after punching through several panes of glass in a campus residence hall door, leaving some student witnesses with safety concerns and prompting a campus investigation.
Few details were available about the student, who bled profusely on the shattered glass of the residence hall door and left a trail of blood across campus. Officials said he was transported to the hospital by ambulance. No other word on his condition was released. He has reportedly returned to classes with a heavily bandaged arm.
The incident, which happened around 1:30 a.m., occurred at the side door of Kirby House and left four panes of the door’s window completely broken, with two more partially smashed.
Two student witnesses, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed that they saw the student punch the windows from near the Quad.
Jaden Wurm ‘26, a Kirby House resident, was in the residence hall when the incident occurred. After being informed by another resident that someone was breaking the door glass, Wurm and a friend called Public Safety and notified them of the incident.
“We were like, ‘There’s a clearly belligerent man, maybe armed,’” Wurm said, describing the call to Public Safety. “‘He’s actively breaking in, like, glass shattered, trying, maybe, to get in.’”
According to Wurm, he and his roommates hid in their room with their couch pushed up against the door, listening to “glass shattering” and “metal being hit.” Wurm said that other students similarly hid.
“We don’t know if he’s armed,” Wurm said, describing his thoughts at the moment. “We don’t know what’s happening.”
Wurm estimated that the group remained in the room for 15 minutes before deciding it was safe to emerge. After he came down from his room, Wurm said that he saw the first Public Safety officer arrive. Over a dozen students in Kirby House collectively left their rooms to inspect the scene, according to Wurm.
There were three officers on call at the time of the incident, according to Public Safety Director Jeff Troxell. One was initially dispatched to Kirby House and at least one more became involved later in the night.
Troxell said that there were several initial calls to Public Safety about the incident at Kirby. When the officer arrived at the scene, the student was not there.
“Shortly after our arrival there, we received additional phone calls that came in — there was an individual in need of a medical assist,” Troxell said.
Troxell credited phone calls and witnesses on the scene for assisting Public Safety in their response.
“We ended up, in a relatively short period of time, identifying this person as a student in need of medical assistance,” he said.
An ambulance was dispatched just before 2 a.m., according to Troxell. The incident was concluded by 2:35 a.m., according to the college crime log.
At the time of the incident, there was no communication from the college to the campus community. Some students have expressed concern as to why there was not a Leopard Alert issued.
According to a college webpage on Leopard Alerts, “the system is reserved for crisis situations that involve imminent danger or events that impact a significant portion of the campus population.”
“The totality of the incident did not reach the threshold of a dangerous situation that was dangerous to the campus community,” Troxell said.
According to Troxell, whether such a threshold has been reached or not, is determined on a “case-by-case basis.”
“It’s based on the facts that we can confirm are happening in that moment,” Troxell said.
According to Public Safety’s annual security and fire safety report, “If a dangerous situation is reported to Lafayette Dispatch Center, Lafayette Officers or other local authorities will confirm the threat by either responding to the scene or through the report of a credible witness.” Only after the confirmation of a threat is a Leopard Alert considered.
Most of the blood was cleaned up shortly after the incident. The broken window panes have been temporarily repaired.
This is an ongoing investigation, classified as “criminal mischief, otherwise, vandalism,” according to Troxell. No official charges have been filed at this time.
Andreas Pelekis ‘26 and Clara Witmer ‘27 contributed reporting.
