The phone call that forced 700 students out of their beds in the early hours of the morning last Sunday turned out to be a mere false alarm. Three residence halls were evacuated after the Department of Public Safety received an anonymous call alerting them to the presence of a bomb in McCarthy Hall.
According to Department of Public Safety Director Darryl Harrison, a total of three calls were received by 3:30 a.m., at which point notifications were made to the Metropolitan Police Department and appropriate University officials. Before MPD arrived, DPS conducted a floor-by-floor check of the entire building in order to locate the bomb and ensure that no students had remained in their rooms.
Upon the arrival of the MPD Explosive Ordinance Team, first McCarthy and then Kennedy and Reynolds Halls were emptied of students.
“It didn’t seem like a normal fire drill because there weren’t any fire trucks there,” Caroline Watkins (CAS ‘07) said. Along with her neighbors, she was herded by fire safety assistants first to Harbin Patio and later all the way to the ICC.
Once in the ICC, some bleary-eyed students competed for couches on the upper floors of the empty building, while others waited by the door, hoping they would not be spending too much time there. However, students were not permitted to return to their rooms until after 5:00 a.m.
“All students were allowed back in their rooms by 6:20 a.m.,” University Spokesperson Laura Cavender said. By that point, most McCarthy residents had resorted to staying with friends in other residences.
Though the Southwest Quadrangle was thoroughly searched, nothing was found.
“The findings were negative and the building was reoccupied,” Harrison confirmed.
A joint investigation by DPS and MPD to determine the origin of the threat continues.
