Campus Safety and Security

I suppose it's only fair that I continue with my post from weeks ago. I didn't mean to leave anyone hanging for that long. After a few days, curiosity did arise as to how many people might ask, but the intention was never to find out. Anyway, on with the story.

I was sitting up on the 2^nd story outdoor level of one of the buildings on campus waiting for a movie to finish so we could go in and see the one we were going to see: Saving Private Ryan. I was with Kali sitting at a table chatting. The second story of this building has a very open area with more open spaces than walls, and several escape routes both upstairs and down. We were chatting when I noticed a police car pull up across the green about a hundred yards away and a bright shining light come walking our way. Seeing a policeman with a flashlight is nothing to get me in a tizzy. Even seeing him come upstairs, seeing another cop car in the back lot in the other direction, and then yet another cop showing up, I was hardly phased. It wasn't until I turned around and saw one of them pull out his gun and suddenly hurry for the stairs that I started to become suspicious.

About a minute passed where Kali and I were left wondering if we should be worried. She pointed over my shoulder and what I saw immediately threw up red flags. There was a very focused policeman walking toward the stairs in full body armor holding some sort of automatic weapon that was about the size of an AK-47. He pivoted back toward the other staircase to exchange a few words with another officer and I immediately hopped up from the safety of my plastic seat to ask what was going on. I was told to evacuate.

Call me a noob, but I've never been in a situation where the police have told me to evacuate. I instinctively asked where they wanted us to go and my suggestion of the lit parking lot behind the building was confirmed by the body-armored machine-gun carrying officer. Without hesitating I called out to the dozen others that were also waiting for the film and told them we needed to leave motioning to follow me down the stairs. Why the police waited for me to do this is beyond me, but I was happy to feel like I was playing a minor heroic role in everything. My heart rate increased as I took each step down the stairs knowing that there could be a deranged gunman and my courage almost faltered as I turned the corner after the last stair. I honestly didn't know what I was going to see down the hallway. My plan was to ask the officers what exactly was going on as they appeared to be escorting us to our open hideout but as I opened my mouth to pose the question, there came a message across the radio. I couldn't hear all it said, but at the end of the transmission, the gun-toting officer told us all to halt and go back upstairs. “They were Nerf guns,” he said.

Yes, a pretty exciting start to a grueling war film. I was happy to have some excitement and a reminder that life is fragile and you never know when the next assassin is going to come knock you off with a soft foam arrow.