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Gun Fired During Attempted Robbery At St. John's Dorm In Queens

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Gunfire erupted during a robbery attempt at a dormitory at the St. John's University campus in Jamaica, Queens.

As CBS2's Magdalena Doris reported, three suspects -- one of them a former student -- were in custody late Wednesday afternoon and the university said there was no danger.

Students reported the shots were fired when three men attempted to rob a group of students at the Hollis Hall residence, according to an alert from St. John's University Public Safety.

The suspects knocked on the door of Room 510 at the dorm room and confronted four male students – two of them 18 and two 19, NYPD sources told CBS2. One of the suspects was armed with a knife, the other with a gun, sources said.

There was a quarrel, and the suspects demanded valuables, sources said.

One shot was fired by one of the suspects. The bullet hit a chair and pierced it before lodging in the wall, sources said.

No one was injured.

Dorm resident Tiana Lewis, who lives in Hollis Hall one floor directly below the scene, heard some of the commotion – and then a shot.

"Me and my roommates heard like thuds and banging, so we were like, 'Well, what's going on up there, you know? It sounds like there might be fighting,' and we're all like, 'Well, we don't know,'" Lewis said. "And then we heard, like, a little bang, and we were like, 'Well, that sounds like a gunshot.'"

The suspects fled empty-handed, sources said. Three of them were caught on foot a short distance away at 167th Street and Grand Central Parkway, sources said.

The knife and the revolver were both recovered and no one was injured, sources said.

St. John's sent the school community a text message announcing that there was no ongoing threat. But students were still on edge this finals week.

"To know that something like that could happen that quickly; that fast – I mean, who wouldn't it scare? It would scare a lot of people," said St. John's junior Ken Pierre.

Pierre said the incident left him with serious questions about campus safety.

"I just what to know what the preliminaries are to, you know, keep us safe as a campus – like, what is Public Safety doing? What are the police doing?" he said.

St. John's student Chloe Chen said security needs to be stepped up.

"The campus really needs to reinforce its security a little bit more, because we expect a safer campus," she said.

As CBS2's Dave Carlin reported, it was not known why the students in Room 510 were targeted. And some students demanded to know how strangers, apparently unrelated to the campus community, managed to get inside what is supposed to be a guarded and secure campus building.

"You would have to walk in the front door, which you can walk in, then you have to show a student ID to actually get into any room," said Frank Tantone. "Other than that, you would just be in the lobby."

"It's just like, wow, how are they just getting in here, you know?" Lewis said. "We have ways, like, you have to get in; you have to sign people in who aren't from here and you have to give your card if you are from here. So it's like, how did you get in here?"

One of the suspects, a 21-year-old man, is a former St. John's student, sources said. The other two, boys ages 17 and 18, are not students, sources said.

Attempted robbery and weapons charges were pending against the suspects, sources said.

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