Sent on behalf of Chancellor Lori Bruce:
Dear UTC community,
Today I was a part of campus leadership that addressed the media, which included Vice Chancellor Brent Goldberg, Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief of Police Sean O’Brien, and Public Safety Director Brett Fuchs.
Chief O’Brien laid out the events from yesterday in a clear and concise manner that you can read in the public safety message sent to campus earlier this afternoon. There are some points in this message that I do want to highlight and reiterate.
Officers did not find any evidence of a shooting or other threat to the UTC community and the original 911 call did not originate from campus. This incident was a criminal act, intended to be disruptive and cause chaos, but at no point was there a real threat to campus.
As was stated, while this incident did not pose a true emergency, it is essential that we all treat such situations as genuine threats until public safety officials confirm otherwise.
I commend the actions of all first responders and public safety personnel who responded to campus swiftly and decisively, ready to put their own lives in harm’s way. We are fortunate to have excellent relationships with local, state, and federal agencies and these relationships were on full display yesterday.
While it was an excellent response to a potentially terrible situation, we can always improve our training and protocols for the future. Since yesterday, we have held several debrief meetings to learn as much as we can.
As we look forward, we will continue to provide training and resources to faculty, staff, and students to ensure everyone is properly prepared to respond to these types of emergency situations.
Once again, I want to thank the entire campus community for the way in which you have responded to this situation.
Sincerely,
Chancellor Lori Bruce
