LSU To Review Response To False Alarm Intruder Alert
LSU says they are reviewing their response to a report of an armed intruder. LSU spokesperson Ernie Ballard says it is possible that a plain-clothes police officer in the area of Coates Hall was what sparked the commotion at the campus yesterday.
“The report was the person had a gun in a holster on their belt. There wasn’t anyone walking around flashing a firearm or anything like that, so it met the description of the police officer walking there,” said Ballard.
Ballard says campus safety is a shared responsibility and if someone sees something, they should say something.
“We’re fine with the inconvenience, we’re fine with the commotion because we want everyone to be safe. So we would rather them call them in and we can determine if it is a false alarm or not because if they don’t call it in and it is not a false alarm, that is where we have a problem,” said Ballard.
Just before 3pm, the school sent out an alert telling students in the area to run, fight, or hide. Ballard says while that language may be alarming, it’s a policy encouraged on the national level by Homeland Security.
“We are fully aware of the kind of reaction when those kinds of words are thrown out there, but we want people to know that these are serious situations and this isn’t a drill, this isn’t a joke,” said Ballard.