Hopkins undergraduate John Pontolillo, used a samurai sword to kill an intruder in his off-campus residence at the 300 block of E. University Parkway early Tuesday morning.
Police detective Donny Moses of the Baltimore Northern Police District reported that the intruder bled out on the scene.
According to University spokesman Dennis O'Shea, Hopkins is finding alternate housing for all residents of the house in question. They would also be offered any assistance from Hopkins, including counseling, should it be required.
"There may be other things they ask of us, but only time will tell," O'Shea said.
The News-Letter confirmed that Pontolillo was the student in question through a number of anonymous sources.
The senior from Wall, N.J., has not yet been charged with any crime, although investigations remain ongoing, according to Moses.
At around 1:20 a.m, officers were called by a neighbor who reported a suspicious person on the front porch of the home.
"The neighbor reported seeing a black male wearing a black tee shirt on the porch. That person had disappeared from the porch when the Hopkins student searching the house stumbling upon him hiding in the garage," Moses said.
Pontolillo, more commonly known to friends as "Ponts," confronted the intruder after hearing a disturbance in the basement. He went downstairs, armed with a sword.
According to Moses, Pontolillo confronted the intruder and ordered him to stand still. He and his roommates also called for police and for help.
"The intruder lunged at him. The student in panic swung the sword, struck the intruder in the left wrist, partially severing the hand," Moses said. Pontolillo also lacerated the burglar's chest.
Senior Andres Contreras heard the incident nearby in his house. "I was in my kitchen at around one something, and all of a sudden I heard someone yell, 'Get down get the f-on the ground.' I knew there were robberies going on [in the neighborhood]. It sounded like police. They kept yelling, 'don't you f-move," he said.
"I could hear [the intruder] screaming, [but] I thought he was being roughhoused and was just upset," Contreras added.
Moses confirmed that there had been a burglary earlier that day in the same location, in which two laptops and a Sony PlayStation were stolen. No one saw the first burglar, who only made it to the second floor of the house, according to an anonymous source, but the residents filed a police report after the first incident.
Around 1:30 a.m. the residents heard a disturbance downstairs, according to the same anonymous source. Pontolillo and two other residents of the house allegedly grabbed nearby items for defense, including the samurai sword. The three then made their way downstairs to confront the intruder.
When the residents checked the garage, they saw a man crawling out from under the porch. Pontolillo allegedly held the man at sword-point while his roommates went back in the house to call the police. By the time his roommates returned outside, the attacker had lunged and was already bleeding.
Residents of the house were unavailable for comment.
The State's Attorney of Baltimore City office will decide if charges should be brought against Pontolillo.
The attorney's office declined to comment beyond a statement that "No final decision has been made of yet."
According to a consultant at the Maryland State Law Library, the office will have to consider whether Pontolillo's life and property were threatened
The office did comment that Pontolillo's right to defend his home would have little bearing on the case. The attorney will also determine if Pontolillo's actions were done in self-defense, and whether the incident occurred on public or city property.
"We were very fortunate that no student was harmed last night. All of us should take action to minimize the chances that we will be victimized," Dean of Student Life Susan Boswell wrote in an e-mail to the student body on Tuesday afternoon.
-- Additional reporting by Marie Cushing and Leah Maniero
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