'All Clear' Issued After Police Investigate Alleged Gunman Incident
By Rachel Young After receiving a call at 1:25 p.m., University Police and Suffolk County Police responded to reports of an alleged armed perpetrator. A little over two hours later, an "All Clear" text message was sent to members of the Stony Brook community. "Police have searched the area and there is no longer any immediate danger. All clear," the message read. The suspect has not been found. At a 4 p.m. press conference at Police Headquarters in Dutchess Hall, President Shirley Strum Kenny said a plain-clothes security guard at the Student Activities Center approached the suspect after an apparent theft. "At that point, the perpetrator showed what appeared to be a gun," Kenny said. Assistant Chief of Police Douglas Little said that at that point, the security guard, who he described as a "greeter" who works for the Faculty Student Association, "backed off and called police." It is unclear if the same guard ran after the suspect. Mariann Woolley, a senior who witnessed the incident at about 1:30 p.m., said she and a friend saw the suspect being chased by a security guard. The suspect is reported to be a black male about 25 years of age wearing a black trench coat, black knit hat and a goatee. Little said he has a tattoo between the thumb and index finger of his right hand. "I saw him running - he went out with a pizza box in his hand. I didn't think he was, like, a gunman," she said. "We made the joke, 'Wow, he's running for pizza?'" Woolley said the perpetrator ran between Harriman Hall and Old Chemistry toward the Sports Complex. "I'm really scared, 'cause there's a whole lot of this stuff going on," she said. Across campus, some students echoed her response, while others reported feeling confused, angry, and worried. Cesar Acosta, a senior, said, "No one really knows what's going on. It's just word of mouth." A female senior who didn't want to be identified called WUSB 90.1 FM shortly after 4 p.m. She said she was sitting on a bench at the Student Activities Center just before the incident when someone matching the suspect's description sat down next to her and asked her for a dollar. A woman who approached reporters said, "I have a midterm tonight, but frankly, I feel safer off campus." Another student, who spoke to a police officer near the library, said that if it was a choice between possibly coming into contact with a gunman or not going to class, he chose the latter. "I didn't sign up for the text messaging service so I really have to go to the source," he said. "The cop [I spoke to] said it was a campus wide issue, but it's really a country wide issue." Although the incident occurred around 1:30 p.m., students reported not receiving an initial text message from SB Alert until at least half an hour later. "Remain alert, and follow directions of emergency personnel. Go to the Stony Brook Web site for updates," the text said. Some students said they didn't receive the message until around 2:20 p.m. No official campus lock down was issued. Noah Pirozzi, a freshman, said, "I'm pissed because you need some sort of lock down device. They said this was one of the safest campuses when I applied." Some students were wary. "It's always in the news - you gotta get used to it. I'm not gonna hide in my room all day long," said Kyle Schillingford, a freshman who was on his way to the bookstore. "This campus is one of the unhappiest campuses, so I'm not that surprised," said Tapan Buch, a freshman. He was referring to Stony Brook's number one rank on the Princeton Review as having the 'Least Happy Students.'" Near the Student Activities Center, students crowded around police officers, reporters and camera-people. Inquiries of "What's going on?" were heard throughout the Academic Mall. Even off-campus media seemed confused. "I get here and nothing's locked down," said Lee Lutz, executive editor of The Village Times Herald. One of the key questions raised at the press conference by reporters was why a campus lock down was not issued. Kenny said a full lock down is a false concept. "You cannot, on a campus, have an open lock down," she said. She said the school has been working on their emergency system "time and again." Stony Brook University has a 1,100 acre campus with about 40,000 people. "Over 11,000 instant messages were sent out," she said. The campus has less crime now compared to last year, she said. The Student Activities Center remained open, and as of 2:15 p.m., entrance and exit from Harriman Hall was possible. People reported a lock down in parts of Administration. Lock downs were also reported in Humanities, Engineering, and the Wang Center. Around campus, University Police told students to go about their business but proceed with caution. "If you see something, immediately say something," said Patrick Bazemore, a University Police officer. "I am really confident that we do everything we can to keep students safe," Kenny said. Little said University Police will review what happened and hopes police will be able to get more information from video footage. "We have surveilliance equipment in the SAC," he said. Kenny said that if she was the parent of a student here, her nervousness would depend on what her child told her about the incident. "If I had watched News 12's coverage, I would have been much more nervous," she said. "My brother in Waco, Texas saw it on Fox News." Little said students should be aware of their surroundings. "If my son or daughter went here, I would tell them to challenge police to get as much information as possible," he said. "We're still looking for our bad guy out there." |
I was broadcasting live on WUSB 90.1FM as the story progressed with Jeff Licitra.
Lockdown became a major point of conversation. Lockdown is a funny word. Stony Brook is a very porous place. We have a railroad running through us and are surrounded by woods and other terrain. There's no way, without an army, that the campus could be "locked down." There's even a tunnel that goes to the hospital.
Several individual buildings were locked down without any logical pattern to them. We'll have to find out what really happened after the fact.
I was shooting pictures shortly it was announced. A few members of SBU TV and I entered Harriman to see what was going on. We entered the the Physics building and then we were not allowed to get out.
There were men at the doors letting people in but not letting them out. It was a lockdown they said. They said nobody could leave, not even the media.
We found another entrance and as the guy was looking the other way, we snuck out as easily as we got in. We used what seemed to be a service entrance.
If this is what they call a lockdown, then the campus should be really taking this a lot more seriously. If I was in my leather jacket and was toting my big camera around and was able to leave a "lockdown" so easily, then a will-minded gunman hiding a gun under his coat would have slipped out just as easily.
I was in Humanities when it went on lockdown. I walked out the back exit, which wasn't locked. Then when I got to the Union, they were contemplating lockdown.
I understand that a campus built like this is hard to lock down, but this was sort of sad.
That, and the News12 coverage was hysterical. Especially the entire "students standing there, waving" part.
I work in the main Engineering office and our office first heard of this when the texts were sent out. I was out in the restroom and as I walked back down the hall I saw my boss waving me to get back in the office. I, of course, thought they were going to send me on some errand somewhere but she informed me that they were going to lock the office because there was a gunman on campus. I was a little surprised. Anyway, there was a lot of confusion about what to do. Classes were just letting out in the lecture halls 143 and 145 and we did not lock down for another 10 or 15 minutes. At one point we had the office door locked, and I was told to grab any friends who were outside to bring them inside the office. The assistant dean of engineering went out to the lobby with me to yell over the crowds of students who were in the building to inform them about the situation. Once the building was locked, students could get out but no one could get in. The building manager of the entire engineering quad locked down all three engineering buildings. At one point, one of the office workers got a description of the guy wearing a red hat, black shoes with a thin beard. The assistant dean was on the phone with various people in the higher ups to get more information, but we did not get news any faster than was updated on the website.
The building manager heard that the biology building was in lockdown for a bit but they lifted that well before the all clear sounded.
Many students left the building before we unlocked it.
The biggest thing being discussed in our office was the lack of protocol in terms of how to deal with this on the professor end. We were told to tell students not to go to class if they were in their dorms. In which case, what is the procedure if there is a midterm? Everyone in the office was very upset that there was no message from some higher up office instructing professors about how to conduct classes, or if students who did not attend would be excused or accommodated.
A student who came in to our office also mentioned that his friend was in the SAC before this happened, on the third floor, and a guy matching this description approached him and asked for a dollar to make a long distance phone call.
Who knows what happened.
My sick and twisted sense of humor sees the pros of this bad press for SBU: maybe next semester there will be enough housing for all the brave souls who dare enroll in this patch of war-zone nestled comfortably in middle class suburbia.
I was in Humanities when it went on lockdown. I walked out the back exit, which wasn't locked. Then when I got to the Union, they were contemplating lockdown.
I understand that a campus built like this is hard to lock down, but this was sort of sad.
That, and the News12 coverage was hysterical. Especially the entire "students standing there, waving" part.
I would be very concerned if the exits of buildings had been locked, not allowing people to leave.
Locked exits a flagrant violation of fire code regulations, violations which in case of injury could constitute a crime.
Consider that in the middle of this incident a fire could have started, or the supposed gunman could sneak into a building through a window. People ought to be able to leave the building, and go to a safer place.
My impression is that the S.U.N.Y. Stony Brook administration, and Police handled this event very well. People were alerted reasonably fast, and this is what is really important, to alert everybody. I personally didn't receive an SMS message on my phone, as I did not register, but many around me did.
After the initial alert was made, any delays in making more details available are not that important. Confusion in these circumstances is normal, and given the size of the campus taking time to send the "all clear" message was more than reasonable.
I sincerely think the Police should be commended for their performance, in spite of any delays or inconveniences we had to endure due to the uncertainty. The professionalism they displayed makes me feel safer than ever.
Newsday quotes several professionals praising the University Police:
"They handled this very well," said Catherine Bath, vice president of Security on Campus Inc., an advocacy group based in King of Prussia, Pa. "A 20-minute delay is very acceptable. ... We are asking for a 30-minute-or-less time frame for the warning to go out."
Robert Seiden, from Great Neck-based Fortress Global Investigations said, "Twenty minutes may sound like a lot of time ... they cannot take everything as it happens without doing an initial, preliminary investigation." ... and called the messages sent a "prudent, cautionary approach" in the face of a "vague threat."
Full article at: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-liskoo0227,0,2670704.story
Confusion
Seems that there was confusion all around. While several text messages and voicemails went out, an SB Alert apparently wasn't activated for around half an hour after the first text message went out.
Since not everyone is signed up for the text messaging service, that means that many people did not know what was going on. Additionally, the text messages were very limited in the information they provided.
Personally I don't think it's very reassuring for campus police to give the "all clear" when they don't even know the whereabouts about the alleged gunman.
I also think it's pretty interesting that we haven't been getting much of a physical description of the suspect. Newsday, quite amusingly, neglected to even include any racial information about the suspect, something which many readers are complaining about over on Newsday's message boards.
This article is actually the most comprehensive and detailed I've seen yet from any media organization, on or off-campus, so kudos to the Independent for being on top of another breaking story on campus :)