A bomb scare interrupted AU's Family and Alumni Weekend, cancelled a Kennedy Political Union event and raised concern over AU's safety for several hours Saturday afternoon.
An undisclosed person left a briefcase, which was later found to contain photo equipment, on the fourth floor of the parking garage adjacent to Bender Arena and the Butler Pavilion. Public Safety officers and bystanders were concerned about the briefcase, which eventually led officers to order evacuations in Bender Arena, the Butler Pavilion and Mary Graydon Center.
The Metropolitan Police Department's Explosive Ordinance Unit and the D.C. Fire Department arrived on campus and inspected the area for more than five hours. As a result, a Kennedy Political Union event, which was scheduled to feature three former White House press secretaries, was canceled according to Kennedy Political Union Director Bill DeBaun.
Officers discovered the unattended briefcase while patrolling the garage prior to the KPU event. Public Safety Chief Michael McNair's office notified MPD, and the bomb squad took control of the scene, The Eagle previously reported. Within two hours, MPD evacuated students, parents and faculty.
Concerns came from an x-ray of the briefcase, which appeared to show electronic objects. The briefcase's owner, an undisclosed non-student videographer, accidentally left his equipment in the middle of the garage.
Public Safety reopened the three buildings by 8 p.m., The Eagle previously reported.
Public Safety and MPD officers told owners of vehicles parked in the garage they could not leave campus.
Members of the AU community were originally only told there was a suspicious package in the Bender parking garage, according to messages from Alert D.C.
"All we can say is that a suspicious package was found," an MPD officer said.
The Kennedy Political Union's planned event, "They'll Take Your Questions Now: Views From Behind the Podium," which scheduled former White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer, Dee Dee Myers and Mike McCurry and moderated by AU alumnus David Gregory was cancelled due to the incident.
KPU Director Bill DeBaun kept in contact with the speakers' bureaus about the situation through late afternoon.
"I contacted them to let them know that there was a suspicious package on campus and as the incident escalated I let them know how this would affect our event," DeBaun said. He spoke with the speakers three to four times throughout the day, he said.
Two main logistical factors contributed to canceling the KPU event. The presence of four VIPs on campus would have meant more Public Safety officers would need to be available for escort duty, DeBaun said. However, they were occupied with the briefcase situation. Secondly, the situation meant there would not be an available holding room for the guest speakers on such late notice, DeBaun said.
Myers, a former Press Secretary for President Clinton, said she was disappointed the event was cancelled.
"It was unfortunate," she said. "Mike, Ari and I were all looking forward to it and it was an unfortunate development."
Myers' lecture agent contacted her around 6:35 p.m. to tell her about the suspicious package and that there was a chance the event may be canceled.
The women's volleyball game had finished about five minutes before Greg Norris, AU's public announcer, made two announcements in Bender Arena about the situation.
Norris received two notification to give near the end of the volleyball game. In the first note, he was told to tell those parked in the garage not to leave.
A second note asked him to tell everyone to leave the building immediately in an orderly fashion.
The athletes had no time to change out of their uniforms or go to the locker room, Norris said.
Cynammon Burns, a junior in the School of Communication and member of AU's volleyball team, said it was inconvenient for the players were not allowed to stop in the locker room.
"People were more just frustrated because a lot of us had no phones, keys or identification," she said.
Burns said most of her team was not scared. Instead, they were frustrated because they could not eat or go home to their off-campus apartments.
Tyler Williams, a freshman in the Kogod School of Business, was at the scene around 3 p.m. when the incident began.
"I've always felt safe on campus, so it's really kind of surprising that this is even happening," he said. "I mean, I'm not going to make a big deal out of it and I still don't feel threatened, but it is a little alarming."
Williams' aunt, Elaine Randall, said she was not upset or surprised by the days' events, as this type of incident is typical in D.C.
"[This response] is what I would expect," she said. "In this area of the country, I would expect absolutely nothing else. Being the nation's capitol, they've, of course, developed quite a good response to threats. I live and work in D.C. I was here during the sniper shootings a while back, I run into this on the Metro. You just kind of get used to it."
The Rave text and message alerts system was an important medium for information Saturday, but only a quarter of students are enrolled in the program, McNair said.
"Rave is going to be our main source of information ... there are other information services we use, and they take longer to use; Alert D.C. is one of them. We really really really encourage students get Get Rave," he said. "It's absolutely free, and students don't need a Sprint phone. ... We have about 2,200 total people registered for it, about 25 percent of the AU population, and hopefully with this incident that will double."
Deputy D.C. Fire Chief Kenneth Crosswhite said while this incident was a false alarm, it deserved the high level of attention it received.
"We treat everything as if it's the real situation," he said. "We do not take any chances. We treat it as a live agent."
Eagle Staff Writer Tony Romm and Contributing Writer Rachel Smith contributed to this report.
