SUNY student Kimberly Kamina, who spoke at tonight’s public forum at SUNY Oneonta, recounts how many of the faculty were not trained in lock-down procedures during last week’s shooting threat on campus. Campus officials told the gathered crowd that they would host active shooter drills on campus to better prepare the SUNY community. (Ian Austin/AllOTSEGO.com)
By JENNIFER HILL • Special To www.AllOTSEGO.com
David Lincoln, SUNY Emergency Manager, told students that although there were rumors of gunshots on campus, at no point was there an active shooter on campus.
ONEONTA – Sarina Hall, a SUNY Oneonta freshman, knew exactly what to do when the “shelter in place” order was sent out by the school.
She and her fellow students in 102 Schumacher Hall stacked 40 desks “up to the ceiling” against the door and shut off the lights. Ten to 15 minutes later, four policemen pushed through the door, yelling and sending the desks crashing to the floor.
“They didn’t identify themselves,” she said, her voice shaking. “I didn’t know if the shooter was coming in at that moment.”
For more than three hours this evening, top administrators, including SUNY President Barbara Jean Morris, Emergency Manager Dave Lincoln and University Police Chief Jennifer Fila, answered students’ questions, attempted to allay concerns and accepted responsibility for at-times confusing communication during what Hal Legg, chief communications & marketing officer, called a “dynamic, rapidly moving situation.”
SUNY Oneonta Campus Police Chief Jennifer Fila said the shooting threat was the result of a student’s phone being hacked. (Ian Austin/AllOTSEGO.com)
ONEONTA – The threat of gun violence on the SUNY Oneonta campus this afternoon was made over a student’s phone that had been hacked, according to University Police.
At 4:38 p.m., a mental health crisis hotline in New York City alerted SUNY Oneonta and shared a chat message, allegedly from a female student at the college, indicating that the student intended to shoot people on the SUNY campus. The school deemed the threat credible, and at 5:30 p.m., put a “shelter-in-place” directive out to the faculty, staff and students.
“This is the first time anything like this has ever happened here,” said campus Police Chief Jennifer Fila. “We had to go through a lot of steps before we deemed it a credible threat.”
