Editor’s Note: The Collegian acknowledges that CSU community members involved in last night’s events went through a traumatic experience. Larimer County has a list of available resources on its Crisis Mental Health Services website, and anyone experiencing a mental health crisis in the United States can call or text 988, a suicide and crisis lifeline.
Following the officer-involved shooting on Colorado State University’s campus Oct. 12, multiple students expressed discontent with Colorado State University’s communication via its Safety Advisory Alert system during and after the incident.
The first report of a person acting erratically near Newton Plaza was made to CSU Police Department at 5:35 p.m., according to the first official statement provided to The Collegian by CSU’s Associate Vice President of Communications Tiana Kennedy at 7:54 p.m. that night. Directly following that initial report, a CSUPD officer engaged the armed suspect, which led to a mutual exchange of gunfire that injured the suspect, who was sent to a local hospital.
Although CSU sent two Safety Advisory Alerts — one at 6:02 p.m. and a second at 6:50 p.m. — CSU students received no direct communication regarding the nature or severity of the situation until the following day, Oct. 13, when the Office of the Provost sent a mass email detailing the events of the previous evening.
The Office of the Provost also acknowledged in the email that some people did not receive the alerts. That, along with the fact that the alerts did not contain any mention of an armed suspect or the exchange of gunfire, led many CSU students and community members to express dissatisfaction with how the university handled the situation.
Associated Students of CSU Vice President Ben Gregg — who said in a phone interview with The Collegian he was solely speaking as the vice president, not a representative of the organization’s staff — called for increased transparency during safety-related incidents and raised concerns about the timeline of communication.
“Students should have been informed quicker and more accurately,” Greg said. “In order to dispel rumors about a situation that is ongoing, we have to be transparent to our students and (say) that it was a resolved situation and that there was no further safety risk to them. The fact that they were not informed of that allowed rumors to swirl and for fears to grow, which is very damaging for a student body.”
Gregg confirmed his team will be meeting with administration — including campus safety and CSUPD — to figure out how students can be better informed about law enforcement activity of all kinds.
Gregg also said that while he briefly spoke with Marc Barker — CSU’s senior associate vice president for university operations — over the phone, he knew as much as students did during the event.
The Collegian contacted Barker for a statement and was directed to Kennedy. When contacted earlier in the day, Kennedy did not wish to issue a further statement on the situation besides what was already provided to The Collegian on Oct. 12.
The day after the shooting, there was no official notice from the university that classes or activities would be affected, which several students said caused them to feel uneasy, especially those who had been near the scene Monday.
Brianna Gomez is a graduate student in the department of biology. She said she was scheduled to lead an event related to the department at 6:30 p.m. Monday night and intended to arrive at the Behavioral Sciences Building at 6 p.m. for preparations. Gomez said she was headed to Albert C Yates Hall around 5:50 p.m. to pick up some supplies she needed when she heard multiple gunshots.
Two students running near her confirmed they heard gunshots, and Gomez said the three went to seek shelter in CSU’s Chemistry Research Building. After attempting to open multiple doors, they found an empty room with no windows where they then hid.
At this point, they had heard nothing from CSU.
“The sentiment of a lot of us who either witnessed it or heard the shots (had) was just very much confused,” Gomez said. “I understand it’s not an active shooter situation, but it just feels like the messaging is very wrong, and having to just go continue about our day today with classes and with teaching more labs, has just felt very wrong.”
Gomez said she mass-texted her colleagues to cancel the event and warn them of the situation. After multiple calls to ensure her and others’ safety, Gomez called 911 and was told to stay in hiding. She said she was told that officials believed the suspect was down. When she asked if they could give her a call back, the operators said they would be too busy.
Gomez and the two others didn’t hear anything official about the situation until the first Safety Advisory Alert.
“We were all pretty confused and upset with this kind of not transparent (communication) and lack of information in the messaging, and also the fact that we heard the shots around 5:50, 5:52 p.m., but we did not receive messages until about 15, 20 minutes later,” Gomez said.
Gomez said the three students checked outside the door, and it looked to them as if people were walking around like normal and that they were safe. Afterward, Gomez rejoined some of her other friends in the Biology Building who were on campus for the previously scheduled event.
Gomez said she wishes the university would have blatantly disclosed that there was an armed person on campus. She said the lack of alerts led to more paranoia and stress among those involved, especially when students were walking around, unaware of the events that had just happened.
“It’s weird how desensitized it’s getting,” Gomez said. “A lot of people I’ve even talked to last night and today said they’ve experienced this at their undergraduate college or in high school. This is their second, third time, and I just believe that this should never be something that’s normalized. It’s also really harmful when it happens in such a safe space. I’ve been at CSU for the past six years; I’ve never had an incident like this occur. I’ve never felt so unsafe, and have never felt just such disappointment with CSU for their lack of transparency and student safety.”
Reach Sophie Webb at news@collegian.com or on social media @sophgwebb.
