8 Buildings At University Of Minnesota have been Evacuated - BOmb Threat

Just saw it on MSNBC.

http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2007/04/18/71605


Update:

April 18, 2007 1:38pm

Northrop Mall evacuated after bomb threat
LAST UPDATED: 2:30 p.m. Eight buildings on the Minneapolis campus were evacuated at about 1:15 p.m. and will be closed for the rest of the day.

By Emily Banks


Appleby, Smith, Kolthoff, Fraiser, Johnston and Morrill halls, as well as Walter Library and the Science Classrooms Building, were evacuated because of a bomb threat at about 1:15 p.m., said Dan Johnson, Powers Emergency Management Coordinator.
A note was found in Smith Hall, and surrounding buildings were evacuated, said University police Lt. Chuck Miner. The buildings will be closed until 10 p.m. and classes in these buildings are canceled. Police are also searching other buildings on the mall area.

The University's Web site asks students in these buildings not to congregate in the mall area and to return to residence halls, though students in the area seem more confused than worried.

Minneapolis Police Department have dispatched bomb techs and canine units to check buildings for bombs. The University has set up safe places for students who have been displaced, sending them to Coffman Union, Wiley Hall and the Recreation Center. Police were originally dispatched to the area at 12:15 p.m., Minneapolis Police Lt. Amelia Huffman said. Police say it's nothing more than a threat at this point.

Yellow tape ropes off sidewalks in the area. Many people were laying on the grass, sitting under trees, playing Frisbee and doing homework, seemingly unconcerned, until police began evacuating them at about 2:30 p.m.

At 2 p.m., Jean Kucera, an administrative assistant in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Murphy Hall, just east of the mall, hadn't received any information from the University, neither phone calls nor e-mails.

The Gopherway from Johnston to Kolthoff has been closed, as well as Pleasant Street south of Johnston.

- Kevin Behr, Nina Petersen-Perlman, Karlee Weinmann, Vadim Lavrusik, Tiffany Clements, Mike Enright, Liz Cook and Katie Nelson contributed to this report.

And this will be the result.

AND the EXCESS that leads to copycats.

Admittedly, I'm getting most of my news online or via radio so it may not be obvious how over the top the reporting coverage may be... But, unlike Anna Nicole Smith, Imus, or any of the other obsessive stories lately, I'll cut the media a bit more slack on this one...

The story continues to be covered as befits the worst mass murder in US history by a single individual. I don't want to let the VT administration and the police off the hook. The 2 hour delay, described in the WP today as perhaps related to a meeting as to how best to spin the first murders as to not hurt the image, was, I feel, unconscionable.

If nothing is done, this is probably going to happen again. Bomb threats are inevitable. I don't like the MSM but I don't blame them for this (some of their interviews with students and parents have been awful).

Wouldn't half of every hour be adequate? That would leave some time in case anything happens anywhere else in the world.

For example, on MSNBC, they are talking about it for a lot of the hour, but are covering other important stories, including recently, The dems trip to the WH.

Every time I turn to MSNBC, including just now, it's solid VT shootings. Maybe I'll get lucky later. I'd like to hear about that WH trip from David Shuster or somebody.

Yesterday the MSM inverted themselves to show B*sh as "healer". They were desperate for a "bullhorn moment"...

Honest coverage of this tragedy makes perfect sense to me. Get the American people some answers. I'm all for that. Using the tragedy as an opportunity to propel the perceived popularity of a war criminal president isn't ok. Just my 2 cents...

Please.

Does that make it better?

Isn't that what it is?

Why not say what you think is more accurate, even though it is, I think, irrelevant.

I really don't appreciate any attempt to minimize this.

superficially injecting hyperbole into it.

edited for spelling error

....spent a great deal of time smuggling explosives into a school building, then blew it up. 45 people were killed and nearly 60 injured. Most of the victims were chlidren.

but that was a bomb.... not a firearm...

it's still the worst mass killing on an american school campus...

This was a dynamite bombing of a school in Bath, Michigan by Andrew Kehoe. He tried to kill 250 people along with himself but succeeded in killing 45 and wounding many others. My link to this isn't working but I'm sure if you Google it you can find the story.

I agree that I don't want the VT administration or police off the hook either. This, I believe was avoidable......all the killings at VT. Cho was a known "troubled" person and a threat to others and should have not been on campus. However, I also believe that we could get rid of all the guns, the fertilizer and bomb making materials and delusional, sick people will find a way to do the unspeakable.

no offenseintended.

You didn't offend me at all. I just thought I put this out because I think we need to keep in mind awful things have happened over time.

Please keep us posted as it comes in.

Thanks.

Also Rider University in NJ under lockdown. Not sure why yet.

What the heck is going on?

startribune.com


The threat was in a note found in Smith Hall, University police Lt. Chuck Miner told the university's newspaper, the Minnesota Daily. Smith Hall and nearby buildings were evacuated. They are Kolthoff Hall, Fraser Hall, Johnston Hall, Morrill Hall, Walter Library and the Science Classrooms building.

The buildings will be closed until 10 p.m. and classes in these buildings are canceled. Police are also searching other buildings on the mall area.

No questions asked. Five years for a second offense.

Bombings are terrorism, and telling someone there is a bomb accomplishes the same goal as the bomb for a short while - scaring people and disrupting their lives. So, lock em up. AT LEAST one day in jail for everyone affected.

This is really tiresome bullshit.

which means that it *officially* comes with a minimum sentence of 3 years. Hope they find the bastards who did this.

Where in Minnesota?

I lived in Wayzata then Dinkytown for a while. GREAT place. Miss it terribly.

One of my lab partners in high school was put in jail for making a bomb threat. Good kid--never figured out why he did it.

Guy I grew up with had a test, and couldn't fail it because it was really gonna do some damage to his semester.

So, he goes up to a special needs kid, hands him a note with the office phone number and a quarter, brings him to the payphone, tells him to phone in the bomb threat, then walks off.

So, this poor child dutifully calls the principle's office and says he has a bomb. The secretary answering the call hit auto-redial, and the pay phone rang. The disabled child ANSWERED THE PHONE and the secretary recognizes the student's voice (because it was distinctive due to his disability), then asked the student who told him to call (knowing he would never do it on his own). The student said "John Smith", and as fast as the school security could round him up, he was expelled and in the back of a cruiser in the front of the school.

The special child was not in trouble...just got a lesson and a personal apology from "John Smith".

He was special needs, but he'd also started getting more and more angry about something in the months before the bomb threat.

We had lots of bomb threats at my high school. The most were 8 in one week, with three in one day. It was worse in nice weather.

They used to happen every couple of months at my high school.

this morning because a student thought it'd be cool to wear an ammunition belt as a fashion accessory.

That amuses me. :)

because in the winter in Minnesota it gets friggin cold. There's also a covered walkway for traversing the 1/4 mile bridge across the Mississippi River.

Wall-to-wall coverage for three days non-stop would entice/excite any copycat.

Bomb threats close US universities

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21577369-5001028,00.html

It was reported that this man was seen leaving Smith Hall not long after the note was found.



;)

somebody saw him stalking in the halls at the capitol.
however, he is not wanted.