Something happened.
Yesterday, at 8:30, I woke up to the scariest text message I've ever read in my entire life.
"I just had to sprint out of the library because there was a shooter in the building."
It was from my friend Cat, who had gone to campus early to study in the PCL (Perry Casteneda Library). She and all the other students in the building were ordered to evacuate at roughly 8:20, because there was a student with a gun making his way up to the sixth floor.
I got out of bed, got dressed and walked into the kitchen with my phone in my hand. There were maybe three or four other people awake. I stared at them and said, "Cat just texted me that there's someone with a gun in the library. And I don't know what to do."
In the following minutes, more people started coming into the kitchen, reporting the same news. There was a shooter on campus. We all sat down at the table together, sending out as many text messages to as many people as we could.
Where are you?
Are you okay?
Don't go to class.
Stay safe.
I remember going to my room and phoning my brother, Ian. I woke him up with my call.
Hello?
Oh you haven't left yet. Thank God.
What?
There's someone with a gun on campus.
...Wow.
Yeah. Where are your room mates? Are they home? Tell them not to leave.
They might have gone to class already.
Find them.
Okay.
I love you.
Love you too.
I called my mom. I told her that I and my brother were safe. She answered and the first thing I said was, "we're okay! Ian and I. We're okay." I almost started crying. I just kept saying that we were okay. Maybe I was trying to convince myself, I don't know. She said she was glad. I told her I would keep her updated.
There were more people in the kitchen. They all had their laptops. Some were streaming the news. Others were frantically refreshing facebook. I was checking facebook and twitter on my phone. Everyone was sending text messages, making phone calls. We all wanted to tell everyone that we were safe. We all wanted to make sure that everyone was safe.
It was eventually confirmed that the shooter took his own life on the sixth floor of the PCL. He killed himself in front of people. Then the rumors started circulating that there was a second gunman somewhere else on campus. We went into lockdown as the police and SWAT started combing the surrounding buildings to find him.
It was later reported that there was no second gunman. It was just a rumor.
Regardless, the people that were stuck on campus were in lockdown for four hours. A lot of my friends were trapped in various lecture halls and classrooms, sitting on the floor under their desks. We never stopped talking to each other, either through text message or facebook.
However quiet our campus was, it was not silent.
Eventually, everyone made it home. Aside from the nineteen year old gunman, no one else was hurt. Everyone is okay, for the most part. We're going to be okay. Someone had a gun on my school campus, but we are going to be okay.
"I just had to sprint out of the library because there was a shooter in the building."
It was from my friend Cat, who had gone to campus early to study in the PCL (Perry Casteneda Library). She and all the other students in the building were ordered to evacuate at roughly 8:20, because there was a student with a gun making his way up to the sixth floor.
I got out of bed, got dressed and walked into the kitchen with my phone in my hand. There were maybe three or four other people awake. I stared at them and said, "Cat just texted me that there's someone with a gun in the library. And I don't know what to do."
In the following minutes, more people started coming into the kitchen, reporting the same news. There was a shooter on campus. We all sat down at the table together, sending out as many text messages to as many people as we could.
Where are you?
Are you okay?
Don't go to class.
Stay safe.
I remember going to my room and phoning my brother, Ian. I woke him up with my call.
Hello?
Oh you haven't left yet. Thank God.
What?
There's someone with a gun on campus.
...Wow.
Yeah. Where are your room mates? Are they home? Tell them not to leave.
They might have gone to class already.
Find them.
Okay.
I love you.
Love you too.
I called my mom. I told her that I and my brother were safe. She answered and the first thing I said was, "we're okay! Ian and I. We're okay." I almost started crying. I just kept saying that we were okay. Maybe I was trying to convince myself, I don't know. She said she was glad. I told her I would keep her updated.
There were more people in the kitchen. They all had their laptops. Some were streaming the news. Others were frantically refreshing facebook. I was checking facebook and twitter on my phone. Everyone was sending text messages, making phone calls. We all wanted to tell everyone that we were safe. We all wanted to make sure that everyone was safe.
It was eventually confirmed that the shooter took his own life on the sixth floor of the PCL. He killed himself in front of people. Then the rumors started circulating that there was a second gunman somewhere else on campus. We went into lockdown as the police and SWAT started combing the surrounding buildings to find him.
It was later reported that there was no second gunman. It was just a rumor.
Regardless, the people that were stuck on campus were in lockdown for four hours. A lot of my friends were trapped in various lecture halls and classrooms, sitting on the floor under their desks. We never stopped talking to each other, either through text message or facebook.
However quiet our campus was, it was not silent.
Eventually, everyone made it home. Aside from the nineteen year old gunman, no one else was hurt. Everyone is okay, for the most part. We're going to be okay. Someone had a gun on my school campus, but we are going to be okay.