When popular commercial music junior Cason Cottrell woke up in her Cabra dorm to an email sent from Loyola university police department, she said the unsettling message raised more questions than answers.
The email said police activity was on Broadway campus and to stay alert.
Cottrell said she only later found out through her roommate’s dad that there was an attempted carjacking right outside her dorm.
“I have a car. I park there. This literally could have been me any other night. it could have happened to me or my friends or my roommates,” she said.
Cottrell is not the only Broadway campus resident who felt like there was little to no information given to them.
As it turns out, on Monday, Jan. 22, at around 2 a.m., a Loyola student was approached by a white Kia Soul occupied by two men, according to director of university police and emergency management Todd Warren. One of the men approached the student’s vehicle with what looked like a gun. The student was able to drive away and find a safe space to call the police.
English junior Ajania Thaxton, who lives in Founders Hall, said she also woke up to the same message and was worried because of how vague it was. Thaxton said she found out about what actually happened through social media, but not from LUPD.
“I woke up to the text message. I was a little worried because like, that’s really vague. And that doesn’t really tell us anything, like if the person is gone or whatever,” she said.
LUPD sent out two messages both at 4:49 a.m. one was a text saying there was police activity on the Broadway campus and an email telling students to stay alert and indoors because there was a suspicious person who was armed and dangerous, Warren said.
At the time those two messages came out, LUPD didn’t know much else about the situation, Warren said.
“In hein-sight maybe we need to be a little more specific,” he said
Cottrell said that she would have felt safer if she heard about the situation from LUPD and not just from word of mouth. She also said that she does notice patrolling happening around the Broadway campus, which makes her feel safe.
“I think for everybody it was a little scary hearing [about] something like that happening right in the parking lot outside, while a lot of us were asleep in our dorms,” she said.
According to Warren, while the two messages that were sent out met their protocol for emergencies, he said LUPD is going to try to fix any communication skills they fell short on.
Warren said he wants the community to know LUPD has a 24-hour patrol around the entirety of Loyola’s campus to keep every individual safe, and according to reports, a few minutes before the crime happened, there was an officer who was patrolling the area.
Warren advises students on and off campus to be more vigilant by traveling in groups and making use of the campus safety that is put there for them.
“Such incidents should remind us to be vigilant and aware of our surroundings, but should not paralyze us with fear,” he said.
