[su_heading size=”21″]Namra Malik on her experience of that night and the need for tighter security on campus.[/su_heading]
Precious seconds felt like hours for Namra Malik, one of the students injured in last week’s Student Centre shooting, as she waited for paramedics to arrive.
Shrapnel from a bullet had hit both her legs. Her friend Annie had been shot and lay a few feet away, her bloodied left leg wrapped in a sweater. Instead of crying out in pain, Namra focused her depleted energy on being silent—the shooter was still on the loose. She and her friends, stunned and hiding under the food court tables, did not know if he would fire again.
Namra knows she’s lucky to be alive. If she was sitting up straight, just an inch to the right, the bullet could have pierced through her chair, entered her back, and killed her, she says.
Although she and Annie are expected to make a full recovery, anxiety and memories of that night will probably haunt her for some time.
“I wish I was as strong as my friend,” she says. “It’s just so hard for me to stop thinking about that entire incident.”
Namra had just finished an exam and was playing cards in the Student Centre when she heard a gunshot. The bullet had gone right through the back of her chair, creating a massive hole.
“I saw this spark and something hit my right thigh because I was sitting sideways on the chair with my thigh placed right on top of the seat,” she recalls.
As soon as the shrapnel hit her, Namra fell to the ground in pain. The pain was so bad, she says, she thought she had been shot. With one hand, Namra pressed down on her thigh, and with the other, she searched for her phone on the floor to dial 911. Her call to the police was likely the first one they received, she says, as they showed no signs of knowing what was going on. In the midst of the chaos, other people in the building were busy making videos.
“I was crying and screaming on the phone because [the attendant’s] questions were driving me crazy since I was in pain,” says Namra.
She then phoned her father and described Annie’s leg to him. He called 911 himself and rushed to get to York.
Meanwhile, a “shelter in place” status was in effect on campus. Emergency screens told people to find shelter and remain where they were.
But York security hadn’t yet arrived at the Student Centre, where Namra, Annie, and their friends were waiting for help.
“I honestly hate to say that I am so shocked at York security,” she says. “They were not around all this time to help out.”
While she doesn’t want to blame York, Namra believes the university needs a stronger, more reliable security presence.
York presently employs 76 security o officials, with six more expected to be hired in the next six months—this has been the schedule for hiring for some time, according to Janice Walls of York media.
However, Namra says, York needs police at all times, and not part-time security officers. She is not the first person to suggest a permanent police presence as a solution to prevent crimes on campus. Since the incident, a petition calling for police on campus has already gathered over 1,000 signatures. Over the past year, the proposal has been debated multiple times at various safety forums.
Namra also attributes the fact that the shooter has not yet been found to a lack of security cameras in the Student Centre area. In fact, while there are over 650 security cameras across the Keele campus, there are zero in the Student Centre, and only now is York looking into installing them.
Toronto Police Services continue to investigate the incident.
“I don’t want to disclose anything at this point about the investigation because there is a substantial amount of work to do,” says Paul Domino, the o fficer in charge of the case. “But the investigation is ongoing.”
Namra appreciates the outpouring of support that has come from the York community, especially from the eight friends who were with her that night.
“I am feeling better now,” she says, and she won’t let the injury hold her back for much longer. She’s resting at home for now, but will return to school on Thursday.
Tamara Khandaker, Editor-in-Chief
