Khrista Trani was in class when cell phones began buzzing and murmurs interrupted her professor. But her cell phone remained silent. No text message. No phone call.

When Trani’s cell phone did buzz, it was a friend of hers who attends college in Florida, calling to ask if she was OK.

‘They told me there was a gun shooting around one of the streets here,’ said Trani, a freshman international relations and women’s studies major. ‘They heard about it before I did. If I weren’t in class, I would have been walking around not knowing what was happening.’

The students in Trani’s class were receiving the first real activation of the Orange Alert emergency notification system, issued at 11:39 a.m. on Monday Nov. 24 by the Department of Public Safety. The alert notified students of gunshots on the 900 block of Madison Street, several blocks from campus, and asked them to seek shelter and barricade the door.

A 19-year-old Syracuse resident was shot in the neck at approximately 11:30 a.m. while sitting in a car near the corner of Madison Street and University Avenue, police officials said.

The Orange Alert system reached more than 27,000 registered students, faculty and staff members via e-mails, phone calls and text messages, according to an e-mail sent to the university community last Monday afternoon by DPS Chief Tony Callisto.

Orange Alert has been tested four times since its implementation last year. In its first real activation last Monday, the emergency notification system called for students to remain indoors.

The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry students received their alerts via e-mail around 12:25 p.m., nearly an hour after SU students were alerted.

Scott Becksted, supervisor of Police Operations at ESF, said he could not confirm the time the e-mail was sent.

Despite orders to stay indoors, bus services continued to bring students on and off campus during the 45-minute alert period.

Al Sauer, director of parking and transit services, said that based on the information the department had at the time of the notification, it did not appear there was an immediate danger to those riding a bus to campus.

‘The one bus that was in the area was redirected from the scene as the Syracuse Police saw fitting,’ Sauer said.

DPS issued its second notice at 12:24 p.m., 45 minutes after the first alert, informing students they could resume normal activity after the suspect was seen driving away from campus in a silver Hyundai Elentra.

Rogelio Granguillhome, a sophomore economics and international relations major, said he doesn’t get cell phone reception in three of his four classes and never received an Orange Alert text message during Monday’s activation. Granguillhome said he found out about Monday’s shooting through a friend.

‘My buddy called me asking if everything was OK, because he did get the message through text message,’ Granguillhome said. ‘When I received his call, I was sleeping, and that is how I found out. I checked my e-mail after and the alert was there. Everything worked out. I stayed in and did not leave my dorm.’

DPS Chief Callisto expressed concern that students ignored the message telling them to ‘seek shelter, lock or barricade the door.’

Rachel Marro, a senior hospitality management major who was outside Bird Library at the time the alert was sent, said she thought the message was directed more to people near the location of the shooting.

‘I kind of laughed,’ Marrow said of her initial reaction to the alert. ‘I thought it was kind of funny that they said to ‘barricade the doors.’ I looked outside, and I was surprised to see a bunch of people walking around. It didn’t seem like anybody was really concerned about the situation.’

blbump@syr.edu

Published on December 1, 2008 at 12:00 pm