(Photo taken from WNEP webstie)
A gunman, 200 rounds of ammunition, 3000 confused and terrified students, and a campus withholding information, these are the pieces to the puzzle we will attempt to put together this evening.
Around 3:45pm, Marywood University’s campus was chaos. There were hundreds of students running around campus with one word on their mind, gunman. With the tragic events of Las Vegas happening less than 3 days earlier, students prepared for the worst. To top it off, thousands of students around campus were uninformed of the situation and were only alerted about the event 20 minutes after it was resolved. The university claims it did not have the time to send students an alert, warning, or procedure for what to do during an active shooter situation. Yet, the university had time to call two different police stations, alert the university’s president, and watch as the police searched the man and his car. Students were personally evacuating each other through texts, facebook messages, and word of mouth.
All the information that follows has been learned from outside news outlets and not the university itself. Around 3:45pm an Archbald man was on Marywood University’s campus with a loaded handgun, parts to an AR-15 assault rifle, 200 rounds of ammunition, and illegal body armor. (WBRE) “He showed his weapon to another student and said he was ”fed up” with students on Marywood’s campus and was depressed and on medication.” He has been charged with terroristic threats and simple assault and will be arraigned at some point this evening, October 4th (Marywood Student Arrested; Bulletproof Vest, Assault Rifle, Ammo Found in Car, WNEP).
Frankly, Marywood you have failed your students, your staff, and yourself with your handling of today’s events on campus. The situation was downplayed and students were completely unaware of the severity of what was happening. This situation could have escalated and could have easily become another tragedy shown on the news. Multiple police forces were on campus and handled the situation, all while students were unaware of the event.
We, as students, are disgusted, disappointed, and increasingly outraged as we find out more and more information about what happened on our own campus today. We have found out all this information from news stations while Marywood remains silent.
Quotes below are from current students on Marywood’s campus about today’s events…
“Today I stood in a crowd of people, heard police officers yell at us to run, and watched as people began to take off one by one. Students learned there was a man with a gun on campus by word of mouth, all at different times, and no one knew if it was 100% true or not. The fact that Marywood did not send out any type of alert to their students (the excuse was that they were responding to the threat with “immediacy”) is appalling and heart breaking, especially since just three days ago 59 people were murdered by a gunman. Protecting your students should be a part of any “immediate” response, especially when lives are at stake. It’s pretty pathetic that the university still has not provided students with any information and expected students to return to class just minutes after the armed man was detained. Marywood really needs to grasp how traumatic this day may have been for some students, and focus more on making their students feel safe again and less about their image/how the public will perceive the school.” – Gabriella Romero, Senior
“I’m disgusted that the one place I should feel safe, my home away from home, was violated by a man with a loaded gun and I was totally unaware and am still uninformed.” -Brooke Ackerman, Senior