LCC main campus was on lockdown for about two hours on Wednesday Feb. 22. Lane County Sheriffs were the first on the scene. The report was that an armed individual was on the main campus in Building 1 with intent to cause harm. Authorities later cleared the area and found no credible threat. In a press release on Thursday, Feb. 23 the sheriff’s department stated: “Investigators have determined that yesterday’s report of an armed subject at Lane Community College was the result of a series of miscommunications prior to the initial 911 call being placed.”
LCC President Stephanie Bulger also released a statement:
“I want to share information regarding the event on the 30th Avenue campus on Wednesday, February 22. A threat was called into law enforcement alleging that there was an armed individual on campus. Campus was immediately placed under lockdown. After investigating, law enforcement determined that there was no credible threat.”
She continued, “I want to thank Public Safety, our employees, students, and area law enforcement for their response. Although we regularly train for an event such as this, we hope to never need these skills. Everyone responded admirably.”
“I understand that today’s lockdown may have been traumatic and disruptive, and encourage students and employees to seek support if needed.”
Torch photographer Alex Seydel was in Building 18 during the lockdown. He and several other students built a barricade against the door.
“We had about 20 people in there with everyone being evenly split of people who were able to remain calm and people who were anxious. For me the part that was the scariest was that combination of the constant reminder over the speakers to get to a safe space and the fact that our building was pretty close to Building 1.”
Torch journalist Jordan Santomango was on campus during the lockdown. She grew up in Littleton, Colorado and had been doing lockdown drills since she was in grade school. Santomango spoke with Rebecca Crook, an international student about her perspective on the lockdown. “It was just the feeling of what my mom is going to say. She was asleep since it was the middle of the night back home so I couldn’t get a hold of her. It’s a risk we have to take going to school here and we all know but we do it anyway. It’s one thing to hear about it and another to experience.”
This may have been part of a string of several other false 911 calls throughout the country, including schools in Colorado and Idaho. Schools in Southern Oregon also went into lockdown due to false phone calls.
The Lane County Sheriff’s office reports that “the miscommunications were not maliciously made and involved the passage of second- and thirdhand information leading people to believe there was an armed suspect at the school with intent to harm a student. During the investigation deputies learned there were not any threats made toward the school nor was an armed subject actually observed on campus.”
The 911 call in Boulder, Colorado that prompted a lockdown was said to sound genuine and shots were even heard on the other line. So far there is no evidence or dispatch report showing that this was the case for LCC.
