Security Alert

New Roc City

On Sunday, April 8, 2007, a disturbing and violent incident occurred at New Roc City located in the New Rochelle business district. A large disorderly group of teenagers, estimated at approximately 1,000 participants, converged on New Roc City and when asked to leave created a disturbance in that area of the city. There have been reports in the media indicating this was related to possible gang initiation with the vast majority of individuals coming from New York City.

To properly respond to an incident of this nature, the New Rochelle Police Department requested the assistance of mutual aid and there were approximately 200 police officers who responded to restore order in the area. Many of the teenagers were directed towards the train station and onto the trains returning to New York City.

This was a very serious incident with several injuries including a serious head injury, an assault with a knife, six arrests, and the recovery of two weapons.

An incident of this nature is very unusual in the City of New Rochelle and City officials have held several meetings to develop a strategy to address this issue and to prevent similar occurrences. Iona College Campus Security is providing this information to the Iona Community for informational purposes to permit you to better evaluate any potential problems related to frequenting this location.

We want to stress that the City of New Rochelle and the owners of New Roc City seem to be committed to addressing this incident and to alleviate the potential of any future problems.