#slcpd

SLCPD investigating weekend stabbing in Pierpont nightclub district

SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake City Police Department is investigating a stabbing that injured several people at a downtown nightclub. Several people are recovering from injuries, sustained in at least two fights, one of which involved a stabbing. This investigation started at 12:46 a.m. on Sunday when a community member approached officers in the area of 146 West Pierpont Avenue and reported a…

A night before Halloween, when everyone was excited and ready to have fun the next day, a tragic event occurred near the student housing dorms. 

9:03PM, just as I had walked into my room from grocery shopping, I got a message from my friend.

“Are you at PHC studying?”

“No, just came back”

“Good, there’s been a shooting”

“what?!”

Sends me a screenshot of the campus alert

“?!”

“So scary”

Until then, I did not know I could receive a campus alert to my phone. I quickly downloaded the application on my phone (U Heads Up for iOS and Android) and started to search what was going on online. Soon after, a mix of sirens drew closer to the dorm. Until then not many students knew what was going on. A lot of the students were on social media (here’s the SLC Police Department Twitter feed, the U of U’s Twitter feed, and the feed for SLC Scanner) to see if anyone posts anything about it. That’s how I followed up on the news too. 

I started to receive emails from school about the shooting that happened near the dorms. However, the emails were slightly slower than what was updated on the Twitter feeds. The Salt Lake City Police department was also updating their audio feed to send out information about what was happening. 

A lot of students started to text or call each other to check where each others were and told to stay indoors. The campus was on a lockdown and no one was able to enter any buildings on the school land. All of the students’ card-keys were deactivated for their safety and security. This, we knew from listening to the live news online. 

Many of us, including myself, were confused and didn’t know what to do. We contacted our friends and stayed tuned on the news and kept up on the feeds of the social media. 

I was shocked to experience such happening but was not too terrified because I felt safe. There were hundreds of police and other forces tracking the suspect and buildings were locked. The adults and building securities were making sure that everyone was safe and didn’t allow anyone to leave the building. Many students were locked-in at the gym or the cafeteria due to the safety procedures. 

The school was cancelled the next day and the suspect was caught near the mountains little away from the main campus areas. Emails were sent out about the news along with notification to the students for counseling if anyone needed. Resident Advisors (RAs) went around each floor to make sure everyone was okay and notified us of counseling and other resources available if needed.

How to Receive Campus Alerts

1. Log in to CIS

2. Campus Alert Setting

3. Input your phone number