During a Wednesday afternoon class at UNC-Chapel Hill, sophomore Avery Bales found herself sheltering in place due to an alert warning of an ‘armed and dangerous person’ on campus. This was the second report of such an incident in just 16 days, causing anxiety among students, faculty, and staff. Bales, who keeps anxiety pills in her bag, quickly reached for them to help manage her panic attack. She couldn’t help but notice how some of her classmates seemed desensitized to the situation, laughing and talking as if it were a normal occurrence.
The alert had been issued in response to reports of a person brandishing a weapon at the student union. Thankfully, no shots were fired, and the suspect was apprehended. However, the memory of the previous incident on August 28, when a UNC professor was fatally shot, was still fresh in everyone’s minds. The suspect in that case, a graduate student, was charged with first-degree murder and carrying a firearm on school property.
After the ‘all clear’ announcement was made around 2:10 p.m., students flooded out of classrooms, appearing exhausted from the ordeal. Bales, like many other students, was left feeling shaken and distressed. Not far from her, medical school student Josh Romero sat on the steps of South Building, pouring out his frustration in a letter to North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger, calling for stronger gun control measures. Romero expressed his disappointment at the lack of action and the constant occurrence of such incidents, leading to desensitization and a return to normalcy while people’s lives are still in danger.
Romero had previously co-founded the university’s chapter of March for Our Lives, inspired by the shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School. His experience with activism had only heightened his frustration with the ongoing issue of gun violence.
Assistant teaching professor Nicole Berland was also teaching a class during the alert. She couldn’t help but feel angry and frustrated, especially since it was the same group of students who had experienced the previous lockdown. Having only been in college for a month, these students had already faced two traumatic incidents that significantly disrupted their education. Berland emphasized how different college is now compared to when she was a student.
In response to the alert, the university canceled classes for the remainder of the day, with plans to resume on Thursday. The impact of such events on the campus community cannot be underestimated, with students, faculty, and staff left to process their emotions and concerns.
(Original report by WUNC’s Eli Chen)
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