By Stephen Cooney
At 11:46 p.m. Wednesday Chronicle News Editor Christina Smith received a text message from a friend in Breukelen house of the Netherlands. The student’s window directly faces the Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits on the corner of Duncan Road and Hempstead Turnpike. The friend informed Smith that she was sleeping with her window open and heard five gunshots. At 11:47 p.m. Smith called her friend who informed her that the fast food restaurant was swarming with emergency personnel.
Chronicle reporters went to the scene to collect information. Upon their arrival around 11:54 p.m. the police already had a theory that the shooter was on foot and they were investigating the incident and the scene of the crime.
For the next hour the reporters remained on the scene of the crime in order to prepare a story and collect information about the incident that happened, literally, across the street from the furthest edge of campus. While on the scene the reporters were informed that the shooting had taken place at the drive through window and the suspect fled on foot into the night.
At 12:23 a.m. today Smith called public safety to inquire why they had not issued a CANN alert. Public Safety informed Smith that they knew of the incident but could not issue the campus wide warning without first contacting the Director of Public Safety. After speaking to several students, the Chronicle discovered that most of them received the CANN text message at 12:46 a.m., approximately one hour after the shooting was first heard by students on campus.
If the CANN network was developed in order to make sure students remained safe in situations like this, why did it take over an hour to inform students to remain indoors?
When the Chronicle first reported the University’s new $750,000 tool it was highly optimistic about the new system and how it was intended to warn students in the event of an emergency. Since it was first used across campus the system has managed to inform us of snow days and wake us while at home on winter break. Unfortunately the system failed last night.
Waiting an hour for this information is completely ridiculous and if we have invested in such a system it should be deployed as soon as the department knows in order to assure safety. Even though this incident was not on campus and there was more than likely not a direct threat to students, it more than likely is not a gamble we should be taking.
Students have the right to be informed of theses situations in a timely manner and this wait was not fair to them. Yes, the Chronicle found out quickly by sheer circumstance but it is safe to say that students should have been informed within 15 or 20 minutes of the incident. Is that too much to ask with an armed suspect on the loose?
Stephen Cooney is a senior print journalism student and Editor-in-Chief of The Chronicle. You may e-mail him at