Wayne Community College students react to shooting
By Kirsten Ballard
Published in News on April 13, 2015 1:53 PM
Full SizeEverything was normal.
Lauren Davis finished her anatomy test on Monday at Wayne Community College and headed out the door.
But then she checked her phone.
"This is not a drill," she read. "The entire campus is on lockdown."
The text went out to students and staff on the campus at 8:17 a.m., just moments after a fatal shooting unfolded in the school's library.
Lauren doubled back into the classroom and alerted her teacher.
She said she read the text about 30 minutes after it was sent.
"There was no announcement," she said. "You don't have your phone out in the middle of the test."
She says they heard yelling, an explosion and smelled gas.
And more than two hours later, Lauren was escorted onto the front lawn by police.
"I'm angry that the college is not prepared to handle an emergency. We would have been sitting ducks," Lauren said. "I was terrified."
Meanwhile, Crystal Adams stood on the front lawn -- wiping tears from her eyes as she spoke on the phone to her loved ones.
She had come to WCC this morning to study in the library before her class -- but at the last moment, she rerouted and went into the counseling service office.
"I'm so glad I did," she said. "I never thought this would hit home. ... How do you react to something like this?"
In the art room, student Teresa Dale and her classmates barricaded themselves in the closet after pushing tables against the doors until armed officers entered and told them to go down the stairs and get out as quickly as possible.
Teresa texted her sister, Emily Dale, an IT staff member at WCC.
"She gave me updates of the outside world," Emily said.
Emily was locked in the computer lab with staff member Felipe Chavez and students they had pulled in from the hallway.
"I felt fear," he said. "But God is with us."
It was Emily's second month on the job.
"I had never done a drill before, for anything," she said.
She reunited with her sister on the lawn of the college.
"The more I know, the better I feel," Teresa said.
Information was slim among the evacuated staff and students.
Sierra Pigford did not believe the text at first.
"To be honest, I thought it was a joke," she said.
She was one of many students trying to get word home to her family.
"My husband is really worried," she said. "He can't get through. I don't want to be anywhere near here."
Students and staff checked social media and huddled in small groups, trying to sort out rumors.
Who was shot?
What happened?
"Facebook will tell you everything," Mrs. Pigford said.
Her fear was that the shooter could be blending in with the crowd.
"We don't know who he is or what he looks like," she said.
She and fellow student Amanda Hendrix were waiting for rides to pick them up.
"What's sad is we probably know this guy," Mrs. Hendrix said.
Officers escorted groups of five to vehicles so they could leave campus. Students who left car keys back in the classroom were trapped.
Asia Thomas, a student, was waiting for someone to pick her up. She was in class when the lockdown started.
"I'm going to need counseling after this," she said. "It's open season on students, because we're just out here. I don't know what to think."