A SUNY Brockport student survived an attack in Thompson Hall on Monday, Jan. 25 at 2:30 a.m. by confirmed suspect Jaylyn Foster.    

According to an article by News10, the university’s Vice President for Universal Relations David Mihalyov said the incident happened after Foster, who is not a SUNY Brockport student, entered the victim’s room.  

According to Mihalyov, another student in the same hall overheard noises coming from the victim’s room and called the RA. When the RA went to investigate, they didn’t hear anything but ended up calling the Residential Director (RD), who couldn’t do anything at the time.  

Officials say the arguments started verbally about money regarding the suspect getting a ride home, and later turned physical. Foster repeatedly struck the victim and threatened her with his gun, reports say.  

Later, the RA went by the room again to investigate and heard the two arguing. 

“The RA called the RD again, who called University Police,” Mihalyov said. “University Police arrived, asked the suspect if he had a weapon, the suspect said he had a gun. They asked where it was, they said it was in his jacket on the bed, so they grabbed the gun and then they arrested him.” 

The gun used in this incident was a 9mm SCCY CPX-1 pistol, containing nine rounds of 9mm ammunition, with one round in the chamber. According to University Police, Foster did not have a pistol permit to be able to legally possess a gun. 

University Police said the victim was held against her will and threatened at gunpoint. According to News10, the college said the victim is still alive and was treated for her injuries, but not taken to a hospital.   

Reports say when the victim tried to call 911, Foster stole her cell phone by force, holding onto it for several hours without giving it back to her. According to authorities, the victim tried to call 911 on three separate occasions at 12:14 a.m., 1:24 a.m. and 2:20 a.m. The victim also attempted to contact someone for help using her MacBook, which was taken away by Foster but was eventually able to text the message “help” to her ex-boyfriend. 

Foster physically restrained the victim and prevented her from leaving her room for about two hours by shoving her on the bed and laying on top of her with his full body weight, according to the police. 

Officials say that on three separate occasions that night, the victim was strangled with Foster’s hands to the point of seeing stars, seeing all black and feeling like she would lose consciousness any second. The victim was left with visible marks on her neck. 

Foster was taken to Monroe County jail for processing after being prosecuted in Brockport Village Court. He was charged with criminal possession of a weapon on school grounds, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, second-degree strangulation, third-degree robbery, fourth-degree criminal mischief, second-degree unlawful imprisonment, second-degree menacing.   

According to News10, the university said there wasn’t an alert sent out to students because the incident was “fairly brief.”    

In light of this attack, SUNY Brockport students are concerned with the lack of information given by the university regarding this matter.    

“How can they keep us safe but can’t keep us informed?” SUNY Brockport sophomore Briana Cohen said.    

Wednesday evening, Jan. 26, a student shared a link to the News10 article regarding the attack in a SUNY Brockport Snapchat group chat. This sparked outrage in students, who were upset that the serious incident wasn’t shared with them when it happened.   

“Finding out that something like this happened to someone at my campus through a group chat rather than from the college makes me, as a woman, genuinely concerned for my safety,” SUNY Brockport sophomore Emmi Rubera said.   

This isn’t the first time a female student has been attacked at SUNY Brockport.    

In September of 2012, SUNY Brockport freshman Alex Kogut was found dead in her dorm room, murdered by her boyfriend, Clayton Whittemore. Kogut’s body was discovered the next morning with severe trauma to her upper body. Whittemore later confessed to her murder, detailing the brutal attack. He said he beat Kogut with his fists and a curling iron until she was no longer breathing.   

SUNY Brockport sent out an email regarding the incident following the coverage by News10. In this email, the college explained that students were not alerted immediately following the attack out of concern for the victim’s privacy. They said the incident was resolved quickly and successfully.    

“This incident provides evidence of the dedicated, well-trained staff acting together to support the ongoing safety of our campus community,” Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs Dr. Katy Wilson said.