For Danielle Moore, a University sophomore from Roanoke, Va., Monday morning’s events at Virginia Tech were surreal.

Classes were cancelled, and the entire campus went into lock-down when a gunman opened fire in a Virginia Tech dorm and classroom, resulting in the deadliest shooting spree in U.S. history.

“It hits so close to home,” she said. “I recognized all those places on the news. My brother went there. My grandfather was a professor there.”

Moore said she talked to all her close friends today. They were on lock-down on campus all day, but they were back to their apartments by the afternoon.

“We’re just all waiting to hear what happened,” she said.

A walk around campus showed the same response.

As students ate lunch at Snelling dining hall, they glanced at the news on the television, did a double-take and nudged their friends.

“This is shocking,” said Kayce Newbern, a freshman from Valdosta. “It could be so easy. We travel in packs.”

The staff shot glances at the television during their breaks as well.

“This is mind-numbing,” said Joe Buckner, a cook at Snelling. “I don’t know why this keeps happening in America.”

The Office of Security and Emergency Preparedness is in the “evaluation and testing phase” of an electronic system that would alert faculty and students in case of emergency, said Steve Harris, emergency operations manager.

The system, UGA Alert, is an emergency notification system that sends out text
messages, e-mails and calls to its registered users when triggered by administrators.

Users register at www.ugaalert.uga.edu using their MyID account name and password.

The University has 5,000 UGA Alert accounts and is restricted to certain individuals in the emergency response team composed of administrators, department heads, building emergency contacts and other directors, Harris said.

They are able to connect up to six phone numbers – including land lines and cell phones – and two e-mail addresses.

“We could call in to this company (NTI Group/Connect-ED), and they send out a warning ‘tornado warning: seek shelter’ for instance,” Harris said.

The program can send 1,000 messages in just a few minutes, he said. A similar system was used Monday morning by Virginia Tech.

“We will only use this system in case of emergency – not to send football game scores,” Harris said. “We hope to not even use it.”

“It is certainly a great system, but God forbid anything like Virginia Tech ever happen here,” Harris said.

The University is paying $2 per person per year for UGA Alert, he said. Pending successful evaluation and appropriate funding in June, the service soon could become available to the entire campus.

For more information on responding to disasters, visit www.osep.uga.edu.

While UGA Alert is not yet widely available, University Police Chief Jimmy Williamson said most police departments have a set response plan for reacting to these kinds of events.

Williamson said he could not elaborate on the type of training because it might improve a potential shooter’s ability to outmaneuver the police.

“(Virginia Tech police officers) were there and set up perimeters and were able to eliminate the threat,” he said.

He said emergency situations like these are difficult because although the first officers can arrive within a few minutes, it may take 45 minutes to an hour to call in enough officers from surrounding jurisdictions.

“If we had a problem on campus, we’d call in all our officers, including investigators and desk officers,” he said. “And then we’d call in ACC Police; they would do the same with us. But it all just takes time.”

Tragedy touches University

Matt Winston, assistant to the president and a
1990 Virginia Tech graduate, checked in with friends to make sure they were safe.

He talked to friends, old roommates, colleagues and people he used to work with, he said.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the Hokie nation and to faculty, staff and students at UGA with Virginia Tech connections,” he said.

Prior to Monday’s event, he created a Facebook group called “Hokies in Athens.” Since the shootings, more than 150 groups have been created in memory of those who died.

The icon for the University group created by sophomore Tina Peters reads, “For today, we are all Hokies.”

University President Michael Adams also issued a statement in a news release Monday afternoon.

“Our hearts break with the news of this kind of loss anywhere, but especially on a university campus,” Adams wrote.

“The entire UGA community extends its deepest sympathy and concern to our colleagues at Virginia Tech.”

Student Government Association President Katie Bowers said there will be a tribute to the Virginia Tech students who died at Thursday’s annual memorial service to be held at the Chapel.

Adams wrote, “there is little we can do but reach out to comfort, to console and to help them in this time of grief. We stand ready to do just that.”

- Contributing: Elisabeth Parrish, Jessica Levine and Lauren Morgan

Multimedia