Students at UConn were forced to evacuate a building on campus after a threat was made to the school on Sunday.
Matthew DeAngelo, a freshman at UConn, told us he was inside the student recreation center when it was evacuated.
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WATCH HERE“They told us all of a sudden, we had to evacuate the building,” said DeAngelo.
At approximately 3:28 p.m. on Sunday, students received an alert from UConn school officials saying in part, “Police are investigating a potentially hazardous condition at the student recreation center on the Storrs campus. Please avoid the area.”
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SIGN UP Students we spoke with had mixed reactions to the alert.
Sindey Chacon said the lack of information was confusing.
“If it’s something that serious, they could have said something," said Chacon. "But there are just police cars everywhere.”
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Others, like Oscar Loeb, were unbothered.
“Nothing really happens here, so it’s calm," said Loeb.
Deangelo, who was at the rock-climbing center at the student recreation center at the time, had a much different experience.
He said, “They told us to leave our stuff… I followed the crowd and walked outside.”
Deangelo provided some context to what was going on inside the Student Recreation Center.
“I know there was a note with a threat on it, and that's why they had us evacuate," said DeAngelo. "Because they don't know if it's true or not.”
He said he saw the note.
“I didn’t think much of it. I thought it was a joke," said DeAngelo. "One of the workers found it and called the police, obviously because that kind of thing can be serious.”
UConn spokesperson Stephanie Reitz has since provided an update saying in part, “UConn police were notified Sunday afternoon that a note had been found in the Student Recreation Center indicating an explosive was in the building. The center was evacuated and fully searched by specialized crews, who found no such item or other indicators of danger.”
Officials told us the building has since been cleared for normal operations, and police will continue their investigation into the origins of that note.
