Police release composite sketch of 'person of interest' in Ferrum College lockdownPosted Feb26, 2008 at 09:48 PM The individual was last seen wearing a green T-shirt and blue jeans in the foyer area of Bassett Hall on the Ferrum College campus between 7:25 – 7:30 a.m. on February 26. Anyone with information that may be helpful toward further identification of this individual is asked to contact the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office at 540-483-3000. A press conference has been scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday at The Franklin Center, located in downtown Rocky Mount. Ferrum students sent homePosted Feb26, 2008 at 09:46 PMClasses at Ferrum College have been cancelled for the rest of the week, according to a statement on the college's Web site. Brunch will be served to students on campus at 10 a.m. Wednesday. All students are expected to be off campus by noon on Wednesday, according to the statement. Classes will resume on Monday, March 10. Audio: Evening press conference on Ferrum lockdownPosted Feb26, 2008 at 06:27 PM
Click the play button to hear Franklin County Sheriff Ewell Hunt's Tuesday evening press conference on the Ferrum College lockdown. Video from evening press conference at Ferrum CollegePosted Feb26, 2008 at 06:14 PM
Franklin County Sheriff Ewell Hunt provides updates on the status of the Ferrum College lockdown.
Video by Seth Gitner | The Roanoke Times Ferrum College loosens campus restrictionsPosted Feb26, 2008 at 05:51 PMFerrum College is allowing students to leave the gymnasium where they’ve been held most of the day. Some restrictions are still in place on the campus; while commuter students are being allowed to go home, on-campus students must return to their dorms. Franklin County Sheriff Ewell Hunt said the housekeeper who sparked the campus-wide manhunt is working with investigators to create a composite sketch of the young man she reported seeing with a gun early this morning. Ferrum College remains under lockdownPosted Feb26, 2008 at 04:42 PMA recent alert on the school's emergency notification system thanked students and employees for their patience, and said that school officials are awaiting updates from law enforcement. Video from Ferrum College's afternoon press conferencePosted Feb26, 2008 at 03:10 PM
Video by Seth Gitner Audio of Ferrum College's afternoon press conferencePosted Feb26, 2008 at 03:04 PM
Click the play button to hear Tuesday's second press conference on the Ferrum College lockdown. Video of Ferrum College's Tuesday morning press conferencePosted Feb26, 2008 at 02:39 PM
Video by Seth Gitner | The Roanoke Times Entire Ferrum College campus now securedPosted Feb26, 2008 at 02:06 PMFranklin County Sheriff Ewell Hunt said the entire campus has been secured. Some 300 law enforcement personnel from about 20 local, state and federal agencies are on campus, he said. The lockdown at the college and adjacent Ferrum Elementary School continues, but parents of elementary school students will be able to pick up their children starting at 3 p.m., Hunt said. Ferrum buzzing with morning's eventsPosted Feb26, 2008 at 01:40 PMThe lockdown was a main topic of conversation at the Seventy-Seven Restaurant in Ferrum at lunchtime. Bill Pullen, who lives in Ferrum and used to be a men’s basketball coach at the college, was eating lunch at the restaurant and keeping an eye on what was happening just down the road. He was driving from Ferrum to Rocky Mount this morning when he saw about 26 law enforcement vehicles heading down the road. “So I knew it hadn’t been resolved,” he said. “That did get me concerned, and I’m not easily excitable.” He owns an insurance company, but he said he plans to stick around Ferrum today instead of working. “After that went down at Virginia Tech, you have to be prepared for anything,” he said. “Until they have him in custody, anything can happen.” Tyler Hunt, a 19-year-old Ferrum College sophomore from Penhook who was just finishing lunch at Seventy-Seven, said he was driving onto campus around 7:50 a.m. and stopped in a parking lot because he thought his brakes were squealing. Then he realized he was hearing the college’s emergency siren. He stayed in the parking lot, talking to people who had gathered there. At 7:54 a.m., he got a text message alert from the school. He headed to the nearby Dairy Queen, where he met up with other students and watched things develop. “At least for a good two hours, SWAT team after SWAT team came through, and lots of media,” Hunt said. “It was just good to see such a response from authorities. … It just shows that they took every safety procedure they could.” Hunt plans to keep in touch with friends and listen to the news for the rest of the day. He compared attending Ferrum to coming to a family gathering – the school has a real sense of community, he said. “It’s like you live at home, being at Ferrum,” he said. “It makes you realize that anything can happen these days.” Audio of Ferrum College press conferencePosted Feb26, 2008 at 12:48 PM
Click the play button to hear a full recording of Ferrum College's 11 a.m. press conference with Franklin County Sheriff Ewell Hunt and Ferrum College President Jennifer Braaten. All safe at Ferrum, officials say; lockdown continuesPosted Feb26, 2008 at 12:39 PMFerrum College officials now say that all students are safe at the school after this morning's incident, and that no shots were fired. The campus lockdown remains in effect while the investigation continues. Next press conference about Ferrum set for 2 p.m.Posted Feb26, 2008 at 12:25 PMAnother press conference about this morning's gun incident and lockdown at Ferrum College is scheduled for 2 p.m. Aerial view of Ferrum College campusPosted Feb26, 2008 at 12:03 PM Authorities focused their attention on Bassett Hall (left) this morning after a man was seen entering the building with a handgun. Some students have been sent to the campus gymnasium (right) as authorities continue to secure campus buildings. See a closer view of Bassett Hall Image courtesy of Franklin County GIS Aerial view of Bassett HallPosted Feb26, 2008 at 11:48 AM Aerial view of the Ferrum College campus. Authorities focused their attention on Bassett Hall this morning, and sent some students to the campus gymnasium. Bassett (left) is home to about 420 students and is divided into single-sex suites. The residence hall is divided into two wings, east and west. See an aerial view of the Ferrum College campus Image courtesy of Franklin County GIS Campus 'swarmed' and nervous, student saysPosted Feb26, 2008 at 11:36 AMKhoseraw Habibi, 26, a sophomore at Ferrum College, described the campus as being swarmed by "hundreds" of emergency vehicles, including sheriff's department cars, ambulances and hazardous materials trucks. He said the campus appeared to be on lockdown, with police blocking at least one entrance and Bassett Hall, the site of the incident, having been evacuated. Speaking of his native country, Habibi, a political science major and journalism minor, said, "This thing is not something new to me but new in America." No injuries or threats reported in Ferrum incidentPosted Feb26, 2008 at 11:32 AMShortly after 11 a.m., Ferrum and law enforcement officials announced that no one had been injured, no one had been threatened, but that a lockdown and seach of campus was continuing. After students were identified and determined to be safe, they were being sequestered in a secure campus location, Franklin County Sheriff Ewell Hunt said. "There have been no threats . . . no incidents to indicate any threats," Hunt said. The man told the housekeeper not to say anything, and that everything would be all right, Hunt said. Then he continued into Bassett Hall, Hunt said. Area hospitals on standbyPosted Feb26, 2008 at 11:26 AMArea hospitals are on standby to support emergency personnel at Ferrum College, where a man was reportedly seen walking into a campus building with a gun Tuesday morning. Officials with Carilion Clinic said ambulances, two helicopters and the hospital in Rocky Mount are on standby, a typical response to such emergency situations. "I think you would consider this our standard reaction when you don't know what to expect. You want to make sure you're prepared for any possibility," said system spokesman Eric Earnhart. Nancy May, a spokeswoman for Lewis-Gale Medical Center in Salem, said the hospital system was contacted by the Near Southwest Preparedness Alliance, a regional group that coordinates hospital emergency responses, at about 8:30 a.m. today and was also on alert. The hospital chain has received no patients from the incident, May added. Buildings being searched at collegePosted Feb26, 2008 at 11:19 AMA man was observed going into a residence hall at Ferrum College with a gun this morning, according to Franklin County Sheriff Ewell Hunt, resulting in a lockdown of the campus and the adjacent Ferrum Elementary School. The man was seen by a housekeeper at Bassett Hall, who spoke to him. The lockdown remains in effect, and buildings are currently being searched. At a press conference that began at 11 a.m., Hunt said that authorities have half of the campus secured. Ferrum College is a liberal arts institution in Ferrum, Va., about 70 miles north of Greensboro, N.C., and 35 miles south of Roanoke. In 1913, the Methodist Church founded a training school for area residents who had no access to public education. Later, the school became a junior college. It’s now Ferrum College, a four-year college on a 700-acre campus and home to the nation’s second oldest environmental science program. About 1,000 students attend Ferrum College from 25 states and 12 countries. Those students can choose between 33 majors and 33 minors. The college president is Jennifer Braaten. Sources: Ferrum College (ferrum.edu), The Roanoke Times. All events tonight at Ferrum have been canceledPosted Feb26, 2008 at 10:59 AMThe college has canceled all events scheduled for Tuesday evening, after earlier canceling classes for the day as this incident unfolds. Press conference called for 11 a.m.Posted Feb26, 2008 at 10:55 AMFranklin County Sheriff Ewell Hunt has called a press conference at 11 a.m. at the Ferrum fire department. He is expected to release details about this morning's lockdown at Ferrum College. People being sent to gym on Ferrum campusPosted Feb26, 2008 at 10:53 AMThe Ferrum campus is a scene of apparent confusion, according to a Roanoke Times reporter, with police sending people to the gym and at least one man, who was dressed in camouflage pants, being questioned. Police yelled at the man to get on the ground and he complied. Police vehicles were continuing to enter the campus just before 11 a.m. Campus sirens alerted freshmanPosted Feb26, 2008 at 10:42 AMJordan Farmer, 19, a freshman at Ferrum College, said he was on campus at 8 a.m. today when he heard horns sounding like "World War II bomb sirens" go off across campus. He said he and a classmate riding with him had just pulled into a parking lot on campus en route to an early morning class. A person in the parking lot told them to turn around. Shortly after, the college sent out a series of text messages urging students to stay inside their dorms, Farmer said. "At first, we were really scared because everyone was thinking about Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois[University]," Farmer said. "It's still a real feeling of unease here," he said, adding that most people are watching the television news for updates and "trying to figure out anything we can." -- Christina Rogers Sheriff describes morning incidentPosted Feb26, 2008 at 10:25 AMAccording to Franklin County Sheriff Ewell Hunt, this morning's lockdown at Ferrum College began with an incident around 7:30 a.m. Ferrum officials say everyone is safePosted Feb26, 2008 at 10:19 AMA text message sent by Ferrum College to students, faculty and staff shortly before 10:20 a.m. said everyone on campus is safe and that emergency officials were just following protocol, according to sophomore Ashley Hale. Ferrum Elementary School on lockdownPosted Feb26, 2008 at 10:17 AMA Franklin County elementary school less than a mile from Ferrum College is also on lockdown this morning. Student: Authorities focusing on Bassett HallPosted Feb26, 2008 at 09:45 AMLaurie Ragland, a senior business marketing major from Roanoke, said authorities are focusing their attention on Bassett Hall. Ragland, who lives at an apartment off campus, said she has seen more than 20 police officers and an ambulance coming onto campus. According to the Ferrum College Web site, Bassett Hall is an upper-class residence building, where the Residence Life, Dean of Student Affairs and Chaplain’s offices, as well as the Experiential Learning Center, Ferrum Police Department, History/Political Science Department and Teacher’s Education office are located. Bassett is home to about 420 students and is divided into single-sex suites. The residence hall is divided into two wings, east and west. Ferrum College issues lockdownPosted Feb26, 2008 at 09:33 AMFerrum College is on lockdown, according to the school’s spokeswoman Natalie Faunce. The decision was made because of reports of a suspicious person on campus and the college used an alert system to tell students to remain inside. “We are on a lockdown as a precaution at the moment,” Faunce said. Faunce was not sure where exactly the suspicious person was located on campus. For emergency information, the college has issued the following phone numbers: (540) 365-4206 |
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