On Sunday, May 2, at approximately 8:00 p.m., several unidentified individuals were involved in an altercation at the basketball courts outside of Moore Gym.
According to the University Police Department, it is unknown as to whether the persons involved were students or non students.
“Somehow a verbal altercation took place, leading to a physical altercation,” A&T Police Chief Glenn Newell said. “Allegedly, one of the people who was involved in the alteraction, left to go to his vehicle, shot into the air, then drove off. We can not say who was playing on the court, who was involved, o rwhether they were a student or non student at this time. Most of the people in the area actually left before the police arrived.”
Recently A&T underwent an active shooter training exercise on campus to test the universities preparedness in the event that a shooting incident were to occur on the campus. Part of this preparation included the university communicating to the community through AggieAlert.
AggieAlert is a text messaging alert system that is designed to immediately notified all those who are registered in the event of an emergency.According to Chief Newell, this situation did not warrant the activation of AggieAlert.
“The aggieAlert system serves two functions: to provide information in an emergency like a blackout, hurricane, or other weather related emergency, and to alert the University community if there was a danger to the community on campus,” Newell said.
“If someone was to come on campus and shoot a few people, and we didn’t know whether that threat was gone or not, then we would activate the system. In this isolated incident, since the threat actually left campus, there was no need to issue the alert.”
Newell said that many people misunderstand what the purpose of the AggieAlert system is. Only in an emergecny situation where a threat to the campus community is still on campus, or it is unclear as to whether the threat is or is not on campus, will the system be put into use.
“A decision is made at the time as long, as it follows under our guidelines,” Newell said. “This situation did not.”
He also said that the University did have the option of choosing to e-mail an update out after the fact, but chose not to.
“I guess we could have sent out an e-mail, certainly, but it did not warrant an AggieAlert.”At the time of publication, it was still unknown as to whether or not the persons involved were students or non students.Editor’s note:
If you or someone you know may have any information regarding this situation that may help the police, please stop by the University Police Station (Ward Hall) next to Cooper Hall and near the New Science Building on laurel Street. Or, you may call UPD at 336 334-7675. Police tips can be anonymous.
- Dexter R. Mullins