By VINCE BASADA — campus@theaggie.org
A UC Davis WarnMe message sent early Thursday, August 21 did not note that the warning of an active shooter on the university’s campus was a drill.
The message, sent out via the WarnMe text notification system and picked up by Nixle at 9:02 a.m., instructed recipients to “seek shelter and barricade.”
“ACTIVE SHOOTER on UC Davis Campus,” the message reads.
A Nixle link sent with the initial message did clarify that the alert was a drill, however the initial SMS text did not. At 9:19 a.m., a second text message sent via the Aggie Alert notification system confirmed this.
“A DRILL WarnMe message was sent a few minutes ago without being labeled as DRILL,” the message reads. “No emergency on campus. DRILL only.”
A UC Davis Police spokesperson told The California Aggie that the message was intended to be sent only to UC Davis Police and Fire Department personnel as part of a yearly mass casualty incident training drill at the Activities and Recreation Center.
“We apologize for any distress caused,” the police spokesperson said. “We understand that this is a sensitive issue. We never want to cause unnecessary stress to anyone, and we are trying to correct that error and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
UC Davis Police is looking into the mistake and why the message was sent to a larger group than intended, according to the spokesperson.
The mistake had an impact on students, both in Davis and back home for summer break, with many taking to social media and the UC Davis subreddit to express confusion and shock over the mistake.
The last day of the mass casualty incident training is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 22, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
This is a developing story. Follow The Aggie’s coverage for more updates.
Written by: Vince Basada — campus@theaggie.org
