Police investigate Cornell senior found with rifle, ammunition on SU campus
Investigators are working to determine why a Cornell University senior was carrying a rifle near SU campus Saturday, SPD Chief Mark Rusin said. The suspect, Mateu Healey-Parera, was charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds. Meghan Hendricks | Daily Orange File Photo
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Investigators are still working to determine why a Cornell University senior was carrying a rifle and ammunition on Syracuse University campus Saturday, Syracuse Police Chief Mark Rusin said during a Monday press conference.
The Syracuse Police Department arrested Mateu Healey-Parera, 22, and charged him with criminal possession of a weapon on school grounds. The incident sparked a multi-agency investigation involving the FBI and law enforcement agencies from both Syracuse and Ithaca, Rusin said.
DPS received a tip shortly before 4 p.m. Saturday of a suspicious person carrying a case commonly used for long rifles near the Schine Student Center.
Upon arrival, officers determined the man, a senior at Cornell University, had a weapon and believed he was waiting to board a bus back to Ithaca, according to Rusin.
After searching the gun case and Healy-Parera’s backpack, officers recovered a .30-06 US Rock Island 1905 rifle equipped with a scope, along with two boxes containing approximately 40 rounds of ammunition, according to Rusin.
Rusin said the firearm was a gun traditionally used for hunting and had been purchased “fairly recent(ly).” According to Healey-Parera’s lawyer, Jordan McNamara, the gun was purchased legally.
“He’s an American who has a right to possess a rifle in this country, and that’s what he was doing,” McNamara said.
Healey-Parera, a community and regional planning major from Mansfield Center, Connecticut, did not resist arrest, Rusin said.
Prosecutor Austin Milone said in court Wednesday that Healey-Parera purchased the rifle while in Syracuse. Healey-Parera was not wearing any body armor, and authorities in both Syracuse and Ithaca said that he was not previously known to any law enforcement.
While DPS arrested Healey-Parera during a Syracuse basketball game against Pittsburgh, Rusin said there was no indication the stadium was a target. Investigators believe the suspect traveled from Ithaca to Syracuse earlier that day via one or more bus lines. However, they could not yet determine why Healey-Parera traveled to Syracuse.
“Right now we have some information, but it would be premature for me to release that because we can’t say definitively,” Rusin said.
In addition to his possession charge, he has been issued a formal trespass warning, which permanently bans him from all SU property, according to SPD.
Following an arraignment at the Onondaga County Justice Center on Sunday, Healey-Parera pleaded not guilty, with bail set at $100,000 bond, Rusin said. If Healey-Parera’s charges are dismissed or he is released on bail, he would be transferred directly to a hospital, Rusin said.
The investigation remains active as detectives continue to review surveillance footage and conduct interviews with witnesses. Rusin said there is no ongoing threat to SU’s campus.
SPD asks that anyone with additional information or questions contact the department’s Criminal Investigations Division at (315) 442-5222.
