Twenty-five minutes after University Police were alerted a dangerous suspect was on the University Golf Course Thursday, students, faculty and staff received a UGA Alert message warning them of the danger.

University Police Chief Jimmy Williamson said decisions to activate the alert are not taken lightly.

“The information we get in the beginning, lots of times people think it’s good information, but we find later that it wasn’t. That’s why we try to be so careful in the information we give to the public, so we don’t create a situation,” he said. “UGA Alert was put out with that information so students could make whatever lifestyle changes they’d need to make.”

According to Athens-Clarke County Police, suspect Michael Wise, 25, shot and killed himself after police stopped his car in Oglethorpe County about 3:30 p.m.

Wise is accused of killing Kendra Borders, 20, whose body was found in a parked car in the parking lot of the Shoppes of South Athens on South Milledge Avenue. She died of multiple gunshot wounds.

“They had some kids together, so we’re classifying it as a domestic violence murder-suicide,” Athens-Clarke County Police Chief Clarence Holeman said.

Holeman said his department was alerted at 2 p.m. about the shooting after the suspect’s brother told police the suspect claimed he killed an unspecified person. Police then began scouring parking lots, soon finding the body.

Several people working at stores in the plaza said they heard nothing and were unaware of the shooting until police approached them with questions.

“I was here all day and I didn’t hear anything. I didn’t see anything,” said Don Williamson, manager of Elements Art Supply. “It looks like I would have heard something.”

University Police Chief Jimmy Williamson said after the body was found, his office was contacted by Athens-Clarke County police at 2:27 p.m. requesting help containing the suspect, who was reported to be at the University Golf Course. Within two minutes, University Police were on the scene.

“We ended up pulling everybody, detectives and all,” he said. “We were right at shift change, so we held the day shift over.”

Williamson said some officers remained at the station to respond to calls, but the majority of police went to set up a perimeter.

“We were at right about 20 officers from UGA, plus what Athens-Clarke County had. They probably had just as many, if not more,” he said. “We worked to set up a perimeter to try to contain the suspect,” Williamson said. “Athens-Clarke County was tracking through the woods with dogs.”

Williamson said his officers were stationed along Riverbend Road and Milledge Avenue and Athens-Clarke County officers maintained the rest of the perimeter.

A message that said, “Resume normal activities. The campus is considered safe,” was issued through UGA Alert around 3:50 p.m.

Some students said the message didn’t say enough to put fears to rest.

“I wish they would have said they caught him,” said Adam Demerly, a senior from Lawrenceville.

Amina Farooq, a junior from McDonough, said the delivery system needs to be improved.

“There’s so many reasons why someone wouldn’t necessarily see [the alert]” she said. “The manner in which the message was delivered didn’t create that much of a sense of urgency.”

Caroline Ward, a sophomore from Lilburn, said even if the alerts weren’t perfect, they were useful.

“I got kind of nervous, but I wasn’t worried too much,” she said. “It was nice to know what was going on on campus.”