What a Day.
I know most, and hopefully all, of y’all have heard about the gunman incident on the UT campus today.
I was in the middle of my 8am American Studies class when the sirens went off and the text messages from the UTPD were sent out to put the school on lockdown.
I was on lockdown in my class until about 11:45am.
It was absolutely terrifying for a lot of that time because we were desperately trying to figure out news and what exactly was occurring. Rumors were flying everywhere as people in the class gave updates from texts, calls, and Facebook/Twitter. We connected to the news through the internet and broadcasted news programs on projection screens while the TAs played radio bulletins. I was getting huge influxes of texts at random times, because service was backed up, from my boyfriend, friends on/off campus, different colleges, and family.
I, along with everyone else in my class, had our biggest freak-out moment when there was a “confirmation” of a second shooter besides the one who had shot himself, (which turned out to be mixed up descriptions of the one and only guy), and when kids announced that k9 units were searching for “anything left behind” and that the SWAT team was surrounding campus and had a tank.
Once we had the “all clear”, I ran out of the building to my boyfriend, who was walking to work at the time when the alarms sounded and had to get into a building next door to mine, and kissed and hugged him.
I am so amazed at the swiftness and response from the UTPD and I am so relieved that there were no other casualties or injuries, save for the gunman’s self-inflicted fatality. My heart goes out to his friends and family.
I am still a little shaky thinking about today’s events, being on campus during the crisis (which could have been an event I don’t want to think about), and I know tomorrow will be very unsettling to have to step onto campus, but I’ll be okay.
Get your horns up.
