By Emma Malinak and Fraley Williams
Police found no active threat on Washington and Lee University’s campus Wednesday after students and employees locked down for nearly four hours following an emailed threat of violence.
A source with knowledge of the situation said the email was sent to Dean Chawne Kimber and Craig VanClief, public safety chief, shortly after 3 p.m. The email made general threats of violence and mentioned guns, but didn’t name specific targets, according to the source.
W&L President Will Dudley said in a statement Thursday that the threat was anonymous and didn’t name any individuals or locations. The university has “no reason to think that the communication came from a member of the campus community,” Dudley said.
According to the source, the sender expressed anger in the email. The language was disjointed and confusing, which could be seen as either a hoax or a mental health crisis, according to the source.
Students and employees received a message from the campus alert system at 3:45 p.m. that stated the university had “received notice of a possible threat.” The message told students and employees to shelter in place until further notice.
Many students were frustrated by the lack of information about what was actually happening.
“I wish there had been more communication,” said Catherine McKean, a W&L senior, “especially because we don’t know if there was actually a shooter or not.”
W&L senior Elizabeth McGee said she was near Elrod Commons when the alert was sent out.
“The head of public safety came sprinting across the lawn… yelling and signaling to get inside, yelling ‘everybody in the room now and away from the windows,’” she said. McGee said she and other students went to the third floor of commons to take shelter.
Shortly after the emergency alert was sent, police rushed to Davidson Park, a neighborhood that contains five of the university’s fraternity houses.
Devlin Daugherty, a sophomore, was at the Sigma Chi House at 216 E Nelson St. when he got the alert. He said public safety officials ushered him indoors, and the sheriff’s department arrived in the neighborhood soon after. He was in his room with the door locked when he heard a “popping” noise outside.
“I just remember thinking, ‘oh, I’m safe, I’m in Davidson Park,’” he said. “And then five minutes later, hearing that pop pop and hearing all these reports about stuff going on in Davidson and the police coming, really kind of shook me.”
Dudley said in the statement that the popping noise was fireworks, which were initially reported as possible gunfire.
McKean said she saw three police cars and a K9 unit at Davidson Park around 4:30. She said the police were walking around the Kappa Sigma House at 220 E Nelson St. before the K9 unit entered the house.
Law enforcement confirmed no active violence on campus at 4:30 p.m., according to a message from the university’s alert system. They proceeded to conduct a building-by-building search of campus until the shelter-in-place order was lifted at 7:23 p.m.
Some buildings, including Tucker Hall, Early Fielding and some residence halls, were not searched, according to students.
“Someone or something bad could have been in there, and we wouldn’t know,” said Nona David, a sophomore, who was locked down in Chavis Hall, which wasn’t searched.
First-year student Cami Knott was in a classroom in the Center for Global Learning when police began searching campus. She said the armed officers made the situation more terrifying.
“It was crazy, seeing them walk past me with a huge gun in my face,” she said. “It was really scary. It finally hit me, what was happening. I knew the possibility of what could happen, but it wasn’t real until that moment.”
The Lexington Police Department and the university’s public safety office declined to comment and referred all inquiries to Drewry Sackett, the university’s executive director of communications and public affairs.
Police wouldn’t release the incident report because it’s an ongoing investigation.
Virginia Military Institute was also under a shelter-in-place order, and some businesses in downtown Lexington were instructed to do the same. West Washington Street was barricaded by at least 10 police cars as the search was conducted so no traffic could move through the main campus.
Anxieties were not limited to campus. Ladles and Linens Kitchen Shoppe Manager Trez Sebrell said she didn’t hear about the lockdown until more than an hour after it started. Police never came to search the shop on South Main Street, and she said she never would have learned of the threat unless she reached out to one of her employees who attends W&L.
“I was nervous, just because we’re so close to campus,” she said. “If it was some crazed person, what’s to stop them from running two blocks into town?”
David Jimenez, owner of Chelsea Garden on West Washington Street, also heard about the threat by word of mouth. He said he locked the door to his shop and locked down until it was safe for someone to pick him up.
“It freaked me out. I saw cop cars flying down the street, and I didn’t know why. It was scary,” he said.