We, as a college society, need to be more aware of what’s going on around our campuses.
We’re a family. It doesn’t work unless we all work together, though. We have to make sure we’re all on the same page. It’s a cliche, but we’re only as strong as our weakest link. So we should all strive to take care of each other.
“Explosive devices were removed from a dorm room and classes resumed at the University of Central Florida on Monday, hours after the body of a student who apparently committed suicide was found in the room,” reported USA Today.
That’s terrifying.
“The way they handled it was disappointing because it started as a fire alarm,” said dorm resident Antionette Thompson in a CNN report. “Nobody said what was going on with a bomb and the shooting. So we were left in the dark.”
How did you react when you heard the news? Because it’s unbelievable that this was a situation on a college campus in this year. We should be beyond this as Americans.
“Simone Hawkins, 19, a freshman psychology major from Chicago, was unable to return to her dorm room after studying early Monday morning because Tower II was in lockdown. She said it took two hours before the school’s alert system began providing information to students. ‘I feel like they should have given us more information sooner,’ she said. “The only way people found out anything was through social media, which can’t always be trusted. I just feel it could have been handled a lot differently,’” said USA Today’s report.
While the police were on the way to handle the fire alarm, a 911 call came in about a man with a gun in a building.
The CNN report asked a few important questions, which delve into the basis of the case: “Was there a connection between the student and the 911 caller? Who was the 911 caller? Where did the guns come from?”
“[We’re] trying to understand why he had the weapons he had,” UCF Police Chief Richard Beary said in the article.
Because he shouldn’t have had those weapons on campus. That’s not, like, a difference of opinion. That’s what Florida law states. Firearms are prohibited on state college campuses.
So how did such a stockpile of an arsenal get stored in a dorm room? How did no one realize someone was getting close to committing suicide?
It also doesn’t seem like the situation was handled to students’ likings. Many news reports have accounts of students complaining they didn’t know what was going on, and in a CBS News article, student Grant Hernandez, 20, said they “were left unsure of things,” and it “wasn’t till about 6 o’clock that we got more information and a clearer picture of what was going on.”
“Obviously you never want somebody to commit suicide, but knowing what we know about what was in his room, we feel better at least that no one else was hurt,” UCF spokesman Grant Heston said in an Associated Press article.
We agree. It should have never happened. However, we’re glad nothing escalated.
Go hug someone today, and be grateful.
