The Manhattan District Attorney’s office confirmed Thursday evening that a New York Police Department officer shot a gun inside Columbia’s Hamilton Hall, prompting further criticism of the department’s handling of student demonstrations.
In the raid on the occupied Hamilton Hall Tuesday night, an officer fired a handgun which he claimed to be using as a flashlight. No students were injured and the bullet lodged into a wall. The raid itself, which closed off much of Columbia University’s campus to the public, and the press, resulted in the arrests of more than 40 people.
The office’s Police Accountability Unit is reviewing the shooting according to The City, a local newspaper. Beyond the shooting, students inside the building described the “extreme force” in the police response per an interviewed occupier on WKCR, the Columbia student radio station.
“Some were kicked on limbs, some were kicked in the chest, some were kicked in the face” the anonymous student told WKCR. “None of us decided to resist arrest.”
New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams criticized the incident on X, alongside Mayor Eric Adams’s statements applauding officers.
“This (and worse) can happen with an administration wanting to cosplay war. This was not a village being liberated from armed bandits,” Williams said. “The Mayor is celebrating forceful accountability for student led protests.”
Associate Professor Joseph Howley slammed the police response, asking on Bluesky, “How close did we come to a dead student in my place of work?”
Also on Tuesday, City College of New York student demonstrations were broken up by police. More than two dozen students were arrested by campus public safety before NYPD was called to detain at least 173 people. It’s unclear how many were “outside agitators,” a claim spouted by Mayor Adams and the NYPD.
Raids continued on New York campuses early Friday morning, with at least 43 arrests made at The New School and 13 at New York University. Both schools authorized the sweeps Thursday, per NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry. The NYU chapter of the American Association of University Professors put out a statement of “no confidence” in the University’s president, Linda G. Mills following the sweep, according to Washington Square News, the school’s student newspaper.