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8 'U' Buildings Evacuated Due To Threat WCCO (WCCO) Minneapolis Eight buildings along Northrop Mall on the University of Minnesota campus were evacuated Wednesday afternoon because of a bomb threat, according to campus police. University officials said a typed note was found in a bathroom in Smith Hall, a chemistry building, by a student and turned over to a faculty member who alerted security about 12:15 p.m. The buildings that were evacuated were Smith Hall, Johnston Hall, Walter Library, Kolthoff Hall, Morrill Hall, Fraser Hall, Appleby Hall and the Science Classroom Building. All classes and meetings in those buildings were canceled for the day. In addition to the U of M buildings, both the Church Street parking ramp and Northrop Garage have been closed. University of Minnesota Police Chief Greg Hestness said the bomb threat had specific targets and gave a time frame of before 10 p.m. Wednesday. He said he was aware of the empty threats made against many schools around the country since Monday, but he couldn't discount the chance of a real attack. "I don't think we could err on the side of not believing it," he said. Hestness said bomb-sniffing dogs from his department and surrounding departments would sweep the evacuated buildings.
"That's an issue of concern for us over the long run," O'Brien said of the slow e-mail. But she added: "We don't depend on e-mail to provide evacuation of areas that we are concerned about." Students were asked to return to their residence halls or their off-campus housing and not to congregate in the Northrop Mall area. In Minneapolis, the evacuation order frightened some students. Kiersten Berg, 21, said she was walking into Walter Library when "this girl, like, shoves me down the stairs." Berg said she didn't know the woman, who said, "'Get out, get out, we can't be in here."' School authorities emptied out all the buildings along one side of the university's main quad. Many students were still milling about in the area Wednesday afternoon. Several greeted the announcement with more annoyance than fear. "I have stuff to do today, and I just think it's ridiculous that people feel the need to post bomb threats or kill other people," Berg said. Jessica Herrera, 21, said, "I think it's a hoax. I just think somebody is trying to get attention after what's happened at Virginia Tech." Standing near evacuated buildings and the emptied quad, Herrera said, "It is getting quite a reaction." The threat on the 51,000-student campus comes only days after a 23-year-old student shot 32 people to death and committed suicide Monday at Virginia Tech. On Tuesday, campus threats forced lock-downs and evacuations at universities, high schools and middle schools in at least 10 states. Several threats mentioned the Virginia Tech massacre. |
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