By Zaida Martin and Christian Yamulla / DelVal Full360 Media Editors
It was after 9 p.m. Sept. 9, and DelVal student Charlie Roller had just made it to her dorm when she felt her phone buzz.
It was an Omni Alert, the university’s public announcement system.
“9:11 p.m. – suspicious person alert, please shelter in place.”
“Everyone I know was on the phone with their parents,” said Roller, a junior Writing and Literary studies major. “Everyone was freaking out.”
From her window, she scanned the campus, her eyes drawn to the Joseph Krauskopf Library.
“I looked out, I could see like three cop cars, there’s officers all over the place, I saw the back of a SWAT vehicle, it was just very surreal,” she said.
The next day, a university statement revealed the source of the “Aggie Alert” and Shelter in Place — a water pellet gun. A student carrying an Orbeez Gun prompted the two-hour lockdown that alerted students to stay in their dorms, lock doors and stay clear of windows.
After a campus-wide search and interviews, police and public safety officials identified the person who had the “alleged gun.” According to the statement, “That person was located and interviewed, and it was determined that the gun was an Orbeez gun, an increasingly popular water pellet gun, many of which look very realistic and can cause significant harm. After the Orbeez gun was obtained by law enforcement, we were able to send an “All Clear” final Aggie Alert.”
The university statement added that emergency protocols were “immediately put into motion and the situation was resolved in less than two hours with no injuries or negative impacts.”
Some students, however, are still feeling the effects of the Shelter-in-Place. Confusion remains despite the school’s more detailed email the next morning at 10:21a.m. The consequences for the student suspect remain unclear.
“(The) Next day was supposed to be just business as usual, but I feel like everyone was still kind of shaken up.” – Charlie Roller
“Rumors are spreading all over the place, even two days later people still don’t know what happened.”
A few students recounted their experiences.
When the first alert came in, Caroline Honsel, a Zoo Science major, was In the library, working.
“I looked at my phone, I saw the text, and then it was like we both panned over to the window and there’s just like 7 cop cars outside,” she said. “We did what we thought we should do. Turned off lights, brought everyone to the basement, and locked the door.”
But locking the door did not come easy. It took 12 minutes because of the lock’s new programming.
“We were calling public safety to have them lock the door because they can lock it automatically in their systems with the new doors they installed. It took them 12 minutes for them to lock the door.”
Honsel explained that while many students were scared and confused, many more were unwilling to seriously consider the situation.
“It made me realize how desensitized some of us are with this type of thing.”
At the scene of the activity, Jackie Dudley, Environmental Science class of 2025, was in the middle of her shift at the Levin Dining hall. Within five minutes of hearing about the suspicious person alert, 8-9 police officers entered the building with guns and riot shields.
“At no point did I really feel like, ok, my life is in danger right now,” said Dudley, “because as soon as I would have had the ability to think that, the police were there.”
The suspect was in the dining hall, she said.
Dudley described the interaction between police and suspect, detailing as they asked the suspect to stand up. They patted him down, exchanged brief words, and then escorted him out.
“It’s not like I knew of a threat beforehand, and again, it was so quick and then I was like ok, they just removed the threat.”
Students were then escorted back to their dorms by security officials, the dining hall staff leaving for the day at around 11:15 p.m.
Mixed reactions remain even a week later. Many are upset with the lack of information, while others give it no second thought.
While the gun was identified as a pellet gun, a screen grab from the Orbeez Gun website shows how realistic one of the guns can appear.
Student Justin Brown felt more inconvenienced than scared during the Shelter-In-Place alert.
“I was on my way to the “Caf” and everything went down, and we were locked in here for an hour and a half,” Brown said. “I wanted to leave; it was late…I wasn’t too worried. It’s DelVal and not a lot goes on up here, not like we were in the trenches…I figured we were safe. They took care of everything, and I feel like I was pretty secure.”
Justine Bielecki was grocery shopping when the alert came through.
“It put me in a panic,” said Bielecki, after seeing the student directive to go to their dorms, keep lights off and stay away from windows. “It was a nerve-wracking situation and very scary.”
Reporters Cavan Kinne and Dacare Smith contributed to this report and produced the attached video.
Reporters will continue to update the story as news comes in.
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