About seven hours after Zachary Carroll became the first FAU student ever shot on campus, he apologized. Shortly after midnight on Feb. 8, a female FAU police officer wounded Carroll in the shoulder and hand as the 6-foot-2 business major lunged at her in a dormitory parking lot.Carroll, 21, was rushed to Delray Beach Medical Center at 1 a.m., and FAU officials held a press conference at 8 a.m. By 8:30 a.m., local TV stations had cameras rolling on the Boca campus. By 9 a.m., newspaper reporters were already interviewing students. At the same time, Dr. Emanuel Newsome was driving to the hospital. The vice president of Student Affairs wanted to check on Carroll’s condition and speak with his family.”When I got there he was in stable condition,” Newsome recalls. “He had calmed down and he had bandages around his arm and his hand. I got there right as they were getting him ready for surgery. I told him I was from FAU and asked him if he wanted anything. He said no, and then he said he was really sorry and he regretted what had happened.”

So what did happen?

According to police, media reports and UP eyewitness accounts – here’s what happened:Shortly after midnight, residents in the Indian River Towers dorm heard someone yelling in the lobby. When some residents came downstairs, they saw a white man wearing blue pants, a white T-shirt and a baseball cap. He was screaming and cursing as he stormed out of the door into the parking lot. Computer engineering major Michael Berberette followed Carroll because it was “interesting to watch.”What happened next was even more interesting. Berberette watched Carroll as he tried to break the window of a Lexus with his elbow. Fortunately for the Lexus owner, the window was already down, and Carroll did no damage. The same can’t be said for a Toyota Corolla that was pulling into the parking lot. As the car was moving, Carroll elbowed the driver-side window, shattering it. Then he tore off its side mirror. Freshman Erick McIntosh told the UP he saw two female police officers drive up, get out of their patrol car and ask Carroll to put his hands in the air. Instead, Carroll reached toward his back pocket and the officers drew their guns. “Then he spit on one of the officers and they told him to stop and he kept on walking at them,” McIntosh told WPTV-Channel 5 news.Carroll then lunged at one of the officers. She backed away, but he continued toward her. McIntosh called his mood “uncontrollable.”McIntosh said the officer fired one shot. Carroll continued to charge toward her, and she fired a second shot. He kept advancing so she fired a third time. “He stopped, looked down and leaned on the hood of a car next to him as the officers yelled at him to get down. Finally, he dropped to the ground,” McIntosh told the UP. Although McIntosh said three shots were fired, only two hit Carroll – one of which went through his chest and into his shoulder and the other hitting his fingers. The officer who fired was Mary Douglas. Who shot Carroll?

Douglas was placed on paid administrative leave for three days – standard practice after most police shootings.FAU police Chief Bill Ferrell says Douglas is back on duty, but not patrolling campus. She’s doing “administrative work until the investigation is completed and she is cleared,” Ferrell says. “The officer is OK,” he added. “But she is taking it hard.”Douglas is 26 and has been on the force since September. No media outlet has interviewed her, but Ferrell defended her – sort of. “It may or may not have been the right thing… I don’t know. We were not there. We don’t know what the officer was feeling, what was going through her mind.”But he added, “She said she was in fear for her life and we stand behind her. When we fire using deadly force our goal is to stop the threat. I don’t want students to think we messed up, because we didn’t.”

Who is Zachary Carroll?

At lunchtime the day after the shooting, the UP interviewed 51 IRT residents walking through the dorm lobby. Not one of them knew Zachary Carroll personally. Even James Sheridan hardly knew him – although they have shared a suite in IRT since January. Sheridan wasn’t there when Carroll was shot, and housing officials have already moved him to another dorm room. Sheridan was reluctant to talk to the UP, but he did reveal that Carroll kept to himself and didn’t have many friends. “I really don’t have anything to say. I didn’t really know him,” Sheridan says. “I never hung out with him or anything. I don’t know if he ever did anything like this before. I’ve only known him a month.” Also reluctant to speak to the press was Student Affairs Dean Leslie Bates, who would only say that Carroll began attending FAU in 2004 and moved into the dorms in January. In contrast, Richard Finlayson, principal of Aucilla Christian Academy, Carroll’s high school, had a lot to say – and nothing but praise for his former student. “He was a great kid for us,” Finlayson says. “He participated in a lot of campus activities, qualified for a merit-based scholarship and was just a nice young man.” Finlayson added, “We’re proud he was one of our students, and my heart goes out to his family. This is a real tragic situation and we’ll be praying for him.”

What happens now?

Carroll survived his wounds, but his future at FAU is uncertain. Contrary to a report by The Palm Beach Post on Feb. 9, he was not expelled. Student Affairs has given Carroll an “interim suspension.” According to FAU’s student code of conduct, such suspensions are used when “an emergency situation exists which affects the health, safety or welfare of any student of the university community.”Under these rules, Carroll can’t attend classes or even come onto campus until he gets a hearing. “There is a University judicial process and he will go before a board made up of students, faculty and administration,” says Lisa Bardill, associate dean of Student Affairs.As for Mary Douglas, Chief Ferrell will determine her immediate fate. Explains FAU police Lt. Chuck Aurin, “There are a variety of ways he can go, including putting her on restricted duty capacity.”Aurin is conducting an internal investigation. He’ll check Douglas’ background and training records, but he’ll also review the department’s own policies. “We want to do a thorough job,” Aurin says. “We want to find out where we can make changes and what could have been done better.”As for the criminal investigation, Ferrell handed that to Boca Raton police shortly after he arrived at the shooting scene because “one of our officers was involved.” That’s standard to avoid a conflict of interest, he said.After Boca Raton police finish their investigation, Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer’s office will decide whether or not to press charges. Krischer has three options, says his executive assistant Michael Edmonson: The shooting is justifiable and the case is closed; it’s illegal but not homicide, and the officer is charged; the case falls into a grey area and goes to a grand jury. As for Carroll, Student Affairs Vice President Newsome says that he has been released from the hospital and is staying with his family in Oakland Park.

Julie Downing contributed to this story.

Student Reactions:

1) “From an ex-RA’s standpoint, if someone got shot then he probably did something to deserve it.” -Austin Shaw, English major

2) “It’s a shame. You hate to hear when anyone gets shot, especially where you work.”-Mark Scroggins, English professor

3) “Made me feel sad. Un-armed students should not worry about being shot under any circumstance.” -Rodolfo Rivera, film/communications major

4) “I laughed because I couldn’t help but think… what the fuck!?”-Alec Geraci, undecided major

5) “I swear I saw a body bag.” Alexander Rochard, international business major

6) “This is the first time I ever heard of anything like this. It sounds like the guy was on drugs and the cops did what they had to do.” -Daryl Walton, engineering major