Here's the latest, from the school newspaper, where my daughter has worked in the past:
http://media.www.wkuherald.com/media/st ... 1993.shtmlFight and frenzy
RECALL: Misinformation leads to panic on campus
Corey Paul
Issue date: 10/23/08 Section: News
Media Credit: Bryan Anselm
There's a fight at South Campus. Police get a call that shots are fired. A fight erupts at Pearce-Ford Tower about 30 minutes later. Then another report of gunfire.
What does Western do?
In a post-Virginia Tech society, it opts to err on the side of extreme caution.
Officials issue stark warnings through the Emergency Management System. Text messages, intercom broadcasts and e-mails. Besides a storm or two, this is the first time the EMS alerts students.
News of a shooting breaks nationally. Students make and receive thousands of phone calls to relieve worries of loved ones. It floods cell phone networks, and many lose service.
Rumors fly: PFT is on lockdown while police search for an armed suspect inside. Someone's shot. No, wait, someone broke his arm, breaking up a fight.
So what really happened?
Much less than you heard: Western officials later say there are no confirmed shots or weapons on campus.
The guy who broke his arm stopping a fight? False. Someone suffered minor injuries in the fight. Howard Bailey, vice president of student affairs, later shakes his hand.
But students are convinced otherwise for hours Wednesday, as panic and policemen blanket the campus.
"They're shooting now," a student on South Lawn says urgently into her cell phone. "They were fighting first."
She's too afraid to give her name. But this woman, who friends call (Ree-see), heard the same warnings issued to everyone else.
At 12:30 p.m., 42 minutes after shots are reported: "Armed men have been reported on WKU South Campus. Please stay clear of the area." At 12:48: "Shots fired near PFT seek shelter immediately."
Western didn't confirm any of that before warning students.
But (Ree-see) doesn't know. She can't get into her dorm. It's on lockdown, so she stays with friends on the grass.
About 20 yards away, Bowling Green police officer Jamie Peerce makes a discovery.
One of the suspects, he says into his radio, is approaching the Downing University Center. The man is wearing a light blue toboggan and a black jacket with white trim.
Moments later, three policemen approach the Guthrie Bell Tower with a pistol and two AR-15 assault rifles.
"Get on the ground," they shout at four students, including the blue-hatted man. They point their guns and the students comply.
Then (Ree-see) says something to the officers. The mob of about 20 onlookers can't hear it, but it makes one officer visibly angry.
"You want to be a part of it?" the policeman says. He aims a rifle at her head.
"Get on the ground," he says.
She doesn't. So he pushes her down, smacking her head against stone.
"Get the f--- off me," she screams. "Get the f--- off me."
The policemen move the students to the Preston Center for questioning. (Ree-see) is the only one in cuffs.
After about 30 minutes, police put the blue-hatted man in the back of a Bowling Green Police cruiser. He was one of five students detained, but not arrested. (Ree-see) is released. She declines another interview.
The three students with whom the detainee chatted by the clock-tower are also released.
Nashville freshmen Corin Jones and Augustus Quaye are two of them. Both say they were complaining about the lockdown and chatting about the PFT melee before police approached them. They witnessed the fight but say they weren't involved and don't know what it was about.
Quaye says he went at PFT to meet Jones for lunch.
Both say they play intramural flag football with the blue-hatted man. They say his name is "(An-twahn)," but can't spell it and don't know his last name or hometown.
"He doesn't play very much," Jones says.
Police maintain a barricade around PFT while officers search rooms. Outside, students and officers relay rumors of a gunman.
It's one of many that appears to have fallen flat.
At 3:02, Western issues a final text message: "This is an all clear message. All main campus and BGCC classes have been canceled for the remainder of the day."
At 4:00, Western officials gather in Mass Media and Technology Hall to address the swath of newspeople that the warnings drew.
Bailey says the South Campus fight had carried over from a brawl at a Saturday night dance hosted by Black Men of Western, a mentoring group. The fights at South Campus and PFT are connected. None of the students were from the mentoring group.
Bailey admits the threats were probably invalid.
And pressmen press.
"What you did is put out rumors effectively," one reporter says.
"What we did was make the right decision on behalf of the safety of the college and community."
Bailey thanks the local, state and federal agencies that responded. After the press conference, two students tell officials they saw a gun and heard shots. The investigation is ongoing.
Bailey says Western will assess its response to the calls.
Did Western cry wolf? How might its officials respond next time? How might its students?
Was the potential for violence worth all this cost, and all this panic?
Reach Corey Paul at
news@chherald.com.