After armed robbery, student arrested on drug charges

A UNC student linked to Monday’s armed robbery at Morrison Residence Hall was arrested Tuesday on drug and alcohol charges, police said.

Dylan Michael D’Joseph, 19, of High Point, was charged with maintaining a dwelling for keeping and selling marijuana, along with two misdemeanors for possession of drug paraphernalia and underage possession of alcohol, according to arrest reports.

The charges came one day after police say he and four other students were lined up in a third floor suite and robbed at gunpoint.

Reacting to criticism Wednesday that UNC failed to adequately alert the campus to a gunman, Chancellor Holden Thorp called on Leslie Strohm, vice chancellor and general counsel, to convene the Executive Group of 10 vice chancellors and other high-ranking officials to review Alert Carolina policies.

Randy Young, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said the University decided against sounding the Alert Carolina sirens and sending a mass text after weighing three factors: the lack of visual confirmation of a gun, a report that a suspect had left the campus area and the belief that the incident was isolated to the victims.

Young said D’Joseph was acquainted with the suspects. But on Wednesday, D’Joseph said he had never met Luther Oneal Allison, 24, or Michael DeAngelo Williamson, 26, before encountering them at the Morrison front door at about midnight Monday.

D’Joseph said he received a call at about 11:30 p.m. on Sunday from an acquaintance known by the nickname “Ace,” who asked to meet. D’Joseph said he went to the first floor about 30 minutes later to let the man in, only to find Allison and Williamson instead.

“He said he was Ace’s friend and that Ace was coming later,” D’Joseph said.

After leading them up the stairs to his third floor room, D’Joseph said Williamson pulled out a gun and put it to his head while friends lined up in a row and were robbed. Meanwhile, he said Luther ransacked the room in search of valuables.

He said the two made off with video games, controllers and his cellphone — among other items — before Allison was arrested and charged with armed robbery, assault by pointed gun and resisting arrest.

Williamson fled on foot.

Williamson has a deep criminal history that includes drug and trespassing convictions, along with a 2005 conviction for assault with deadly weapon with intent to kill.

He remains free, with a warrant out for his arrest.

A review of Alert Carolina

Communicated through emails, editorials and even Twitter messages, public outcry about the University’s lack of notification has been reminiscent of 2009, Thorp said, when UNC was criticized for inadequately alerting the campus community to a bomb scare in the Pit.

Thorp said Mary Cooper and Serena Witzke, the respective presidents of the student body and Graduate and Professional Student Federation, will join the Executive Group in evaluating Alert Carolina policy, particularly the public’s understanding of it.

Alert Carolina policy states that siren and mass text devices will activate in the event of “an armed and dangerous person on or near campus.”

“I trust (police) to figure out whether we had an active shooter, which we didn’t,” Thorp said, noting that a siren likely would not have been audible inside Morrison.

“I agree with those who have said that we need to continue to refine the public’s understanding of when we are and aren’t informing the public.”

Senior Writer Lyle Kendrick contributed reporting. Contact the University Editor at university@dailytarheel.com.