FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Some Colorado State University parents and students say they are frustrated by the lack of information they received during an officer-involved shooting on campus Monday evening.
Bullet holes in a window had been boarded up by Tuesday morning, as campus activity appeared to return to normal following the shooting.
Police say a man armed with a handgun approached a CSU police officer Monday evening, and gunfire followed. The man was shot and transported to a hospital.
Owen Lincoln, a CSU sophomore, said he initially heard people talking about gunshots and feared someone might be shooting at the school.
“It kind of scared me,” another student said, describing the experience as surreal after seeing police arrive.
CSU police and Fort Collins Police Services did not hold a news conference Monday night.
Alan Schenkel, a CSU faculty member and parent of a student at the university, said he did not initially receive information about the shooting.
“We didn't find anything out until about half an hour later, and even then, I didn't find out there was a shooting until one of my friends texted me and said, ‘Are you okay?’” Schenkel said.
Schenkel said his daughter is a first-year student who takes classes in the chemistry building. After learning about the shooting, he texted her to make sure she was safe.
He said she confirmed she was OK, but the situation was still frightening.
Stephny Armell, a CSU parent who lives in Florida, said she had signed up to receive emergency alerts from the university but did not receive any notifications about the incident.
Armell said she learned about what happened through videos sent by her daughter.
She described feeling afraid that her daughter or other students and staff could have been hurt or killed.
Denver7 asked CSU why some members of the campus community say they did not receive timely emergency notifications.
In a statement posted on its website, the university said the initial alert and the all-clear message each went to more than 48,000 email addresses and phone numbers belonging to members of the campus community.
“We recognize that some people did not receive the text alerts,” the statement said. “We are currently working to understand why that happened and to fix the issue going forward.”
CSU also said digital screens on campus are used during ongoing threats. The university said CSU police determined that was not the case during Monday's incident.
Students, parents and staff can find instructions for signing up for emergency text alerts on HERE.
Armell said she hopes the university recognizes the emotional impact the incident may have had on students, regardless of how the incident is classified.
She said an event does not have to be formally described as a school shooting or involve fatalities for students to experience trauma.
"I hope that CSU would actually recognize the incident for what it is. It doesn't have to be under a specific term, for it to be traumatic for the students, there it doesn't have to be, you know, termed an actual school shooting where there were, you know, casualties for trauma to have, you know, occurred for the students," Armell said. "I think first CSU needs to acknowledge the actual incident that transpired, the trauma that has you know affected or potentially affected the students, and then put into effect how they plan to help the students there deal with this event."
Fort Collins Police Services is leading the investigation. CSU said the agency will release additional information about the shooting.
