Angel’s Roost residence was broken into and vandalized sometime between the evening of Sept. 14 and the early hours of Sept. 15. The administration determined the individuals entered through the fire escape – which was unlocked from the outside. The door was locked shortly after the incident.

Resident Ally Bowes was one of many who woke up on Sunday morning to the mess. Bowes said the fridge was knocked over and
unplugged, and a couch section was thrown down the A&A stairs.

Bowes guesses it took facilities nearly four days to pick up the fridge. In the meantime, residents were instructed not to touch it. Several items in the fridge went bad.

“It reeked in there,” Bowes said, describing the smell coming from the unplugged fridge.

Timothy Ross, the assistant dean of housing later confirmed that facilities put the fridge and couch back in place at 8 a.m. on Oct. 16 – roughly 28 hours after the incident.

Ross did not respond to The Watch‘s initial request for comment, but provided an email statement after first publication.

Resident Kayleigh Bogart was not in the residence the night of the incident. She came home the next morning after hearing what happened from her floormates.

Bogart said after a few days, she could smell the rotting food from the hallways.

The kitchen fridge in Angel’s Roost was knocked over and unplugged the night of the break-in.
COURTESY OF ALLY BOWES

The vandals had left Busch Light beer cans on the floor of the Roost. The kitchen sink was also clogged with vomit.

Bogart said her first thought when she saw the mess was that some first-years broke in and had a party.

“Someone had a fun night last night,” she said.

Bowes shared similar first thoughts, but said there were signs that hinted the incident was a targeted attack. She said the vandals cooked her corn dogs, threw them on the floor, poured dish soap on the floor, and stuck several push pins in the wall.

“You can get drunk and stupid and stupid people can jump on a fridge, whatever,” she said. “But the push pins took work.”

Later, Bowes said, junior don Rafael Fecury Braga found homophobic hate speech written on the TV in the common room. Fecury Braga did not respond to The Watch’s request for comment.

Both Bowes and Bogart said many residents were scared for their safety after the incident. Bogart said she felt she couldn’t go to the bathroom at night and was conscious of how late she stayed out.

“I think those are feelings you should never feel in your own home,” she said.

Both Bowes and Bogart expressed disappointment in the slow response from the administration. There was no police intervention and both residents were told the issue was being handled internally.

In his email statement, Ross said the university acted in accordance with its incident response protocol as defined in the residence guidelines. Ross said this includes double-checking the proper operation of access-control measures, temporarily increasing security and patrol in the area and using available technology and information to identify the individuals responsible.

Ross also noted that the administration communicated with students from the Roost and informed them of how they could be helpful and how to stay safe.

But Bowes said residents felt they were being left in the dark.

“Tensions started rising that week because we had emailed and said ‘we’re not getting any updates, we need to know if we’re safe,’” she said.

This fear worsened the following weekend when a group of people tried to break-in for a second time. Bowes was in the kitchen around 4 a.m. when she heard people banging on the fire escape door. She started recording the incident to show security.

In the video, which Bowes shared with The Watch, the unseen male voices are heard saying “this was unlocked last time.”

When they failed to get in through the fire escape, the group tried the front door of the Roost. Bowes called security and said it took roughly eight-and-a-half minutes for them to respond. By that time, the culprits were gone. She said security told her they saw a group of men running from the building.

In an email to Bowes on Sept. 26, Ross confirmed that the perpetrators were non-King’s students. Ross also said the Dean of Students contacted the involved students and their institution.

“We are confident that the individuals trying to get into the Roost will not return,” he wrote in his email.

There have been no other reported incidents in the Roost.