Thursday, April 24, 2014

An Unsettling Wake Up Call

Today was just like any other day. I snoozed my alarm five times, finally woke up, showered, and went to my 11am class. I sat in my normal seat, tried my hardest to stay awake and focus on something so stupid like qualitative research methods. Everything was totally normal until I heard two of my classmates talking about an event that happened at my school yesterday.

Apparently yesterday afternoon a man with a gun on his waist was walking around in my university's library, drunk.

Growing up in today's day and age where school shootings are an unfortunate part of our national news, having one of these events happen close to home is one of my biggest fears. I was at school yesterday and walked right past the library. I almost considered going in to relax until my 1pm class started. After I heard the two talking about it so nonchalantly I piped in & had a million questions about it of course. As far as I can tell from the multiple student reports I have heard that yesterday afternoon, a man, not sure if it was a student or not, was drinking beers in the library and students reported seeing a gun on his waist. A few students said it was a shotgun although I'm not sure. There were cops at the library trying to handle the situation where he was arrested. My concern is, why wasn't I notified? Why did the school not release any alerts or put anyone in lockdown? What if I had just walked into the library by chance? Why is this being treated as if nothing happened? Why am I hearing it from the students instead of reliable sources, like the actual university?

Having your personal security put at risk in such a way is absolutely terrifying. It's especially unsettling when the school is completely keeping it a secret from it's students and the media. Yes, it could have been an individual with a permit to carry a weapon, but regardless, I would still have liked to have been notified from the university while it was occurring and definitely some follow up as well. Basically, I just experienced a very rude awakening to an issue that many hope would never occur so close to home.



3 comments:

  1. That's so terrifying. I'm sorry that happened so close to home, I know it can be extremely unsettling. I'm glad you're okay!

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  2. yikes that is scary! perhaps they didn't send out any alert because he wasn't making any specific threats? it is surprising they didn't make a statement about the incident after the fact though! :(

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