University of Texas Evacuates Campus Due to Bomb Threat (UPDATE)

Dillon Cheverere12 years ago

Little is known at this time and school officials are still trying to put it all together, but these are the updates to this point per the Austin-American Statesman. It looks like a similar situation is developing at North Dakota State.

UPDATE, 11:40: Here’s the latest from the University:

All activities except classes will resume at 5 p.m. Buildings may be reentered at noon. Today’s classes are cancelled.

— UTAustin (@UTAustin) September 14, 2012

UPDATE, 10:46: UT Austin just posted to Twitter: “Time specified in phone threat has passed but we have not yet cleared all buildings. Decision to resume operations&classes will come shortly”
Hundreds of students are standing near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Brazos Street. Police are telling people to move to the southern side of MLK, and officers and DPS troopers are blocking the entrances to campus in the area.

UPDATE, 10:45: Hyde Park Baptist Schools officials sent following notice to parents:
“Hyde Park Baptist Schools are currently in lock down, until further notice. All students and staff are in proper places and safe. An email will be sent when the lock down is lifted.”
Hyde Park officials would not say why the campuses had been closed off.

UPDATE, 10:35: Capital Metro posted a notice on Twitter that said: “UT shuttle service will resume as soon as a safe staging point is identified.”
Clusters of staff and students are standing in light rain outside the parking lot of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs in northeast campus.
John Wheat, a translator and archivist at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, said he was sitting in the center’s break room when sirens went off outside and co-workers told him to evacuate.
He said that his director sent everyone home, saying they won’t be able to go back in for a while.

UPDATE, 10:25: University of Texas officials just sent a post on Twitter that said, “Buildings being checked/cleared. Stay away from buildings. No decision on afternoon classes/activities. Next update at 10:45am.”
Among those who were instructed to evacuate immediately were a few hundred people attending a mental health symposium at UT’s AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center.
“Somebody came by and said they got a text on their phone that we’re all supposed to get out,” said Sven Kindem, a peer specialist and patient aide who was waiting a half block away from the center. He had taken shelter from the rain under a nearby building overhang.
Traffic all around the campus is very heavy, but pedestrians are walking around calmly, including a number walking past campus buildings.

UPDATE, 10:22 a.m.: North Dakota State University has also received bomb threats this morning, according to news reports.
ValleyNewsLive.com reports that an emergency alert there urged students and staff to leave campus by 10:15 am.

UPDATE, 10 a.m.: UT officials said in a statement:
At 8:35 a.m. the university received a call from a male with a middle eastern accent claiming to have placed bombs all over campus. He said he was with Al Qaeda and these bombs would go off in 90 minutes. President Powers was notified and it was decided to evacuate all of the buildings out of an abundance of caution.

• [via The Statesman]