FSU students deliberate if classroom doors effectively had locks activated during a mass shooting; university affirms lock function.
College Senior Meghan Bannister, donning a dress for a warm day in Tallahassee, never imagined her last day of class before graduation would be consumed by the chilling reality of a shooting on Florida State University's sprawling campus. When the unspeakable occurred, she and her fellow students knew exactly what to do, having been drilled in active shooter responses since elementary school.
After they heard gunfire, they huddled together, held hands, and prayed in silence, their hearts heavy with the memories of the 2018 Parkland high school massacre. With emergency sirens wailing, students hid under desks, barricaded doors, and contacted loved ones. Within four minutes of the first shot, the suspected gunman, Phoenix Ikner, was shot by police and taken into custody.
Thousands of students and staff received emergency alerts about the attack and were placed on lockdown. Tragically, two men working near the student union were killed, and five others were injured. Another person was hurt while trying to run away, as confirmed by the police. The hospital remained tight-lipped about Ikner's status.
Law enforcement officers responded within two minutes of the first 911 call, and quick action was widely regarded as critical in preventing a catastrophe. University officials, alongside law enforcement and school safety experts, praised the rapid police response and timely emergency alert system.
Bannister felt thankful that not a single student had lost their life during the ordeal, attributing the survival to Florida State University's swift actions. However, she and her classmates encountered a daunting challenge: the classroom door they occupied on the second floor of the HCB building, boasting a view of the student union, seemed to have no lock.
As they hunkered down, Bannister recounted hearing a classmate shout to lock the doors at both the front and the back of the classroom. In response, the student at the door stated, "These doors don't lock." Upon hearing this, her fellow students began to crumble from fear.
"The idea of being unprotected during the most horrifying moment of our lives is unacceptable," expressed Bannister and her classmate, Sarah Walker, in a petition signed by nearly 30,000 individuals, urging the university to ensure locks on all classroom doors.
Upon analyzing the locking system in the HCB building, university officials maintained that classroom doors lock automatically from the outside during a lockdown. A spokesperson for FSU clarified that while the doors are typically secured through card-swipe access, they become locked during emergencies.
"During a lockdown situation, like on April 17, doors in the HCB Building lock immediately as they are part of our electronic locking system that is centrally managed," FSU spokesperson Amy Farnum-Patronis explained in an email to CNN.
However, Walker asserted that no faculty members were under the impression that the doors locked, leaving students and thousands of others in the dark about the matter. The university did not immediately respond to CNN's inquiry about whether only HCB classrooms or all campus classrooms become locked from the outside during a lockdown.
After further investigating the matter, it was discovered that while the doors could lock from the outside, they could not be manually locked from the inside. Walker and Bannister are now requesting that all doors be equipped with manual locks for added security.
Brian Higgins, an emergency preparedness and response expert, emphasizes the importance of functional locks in an active shooter response plan. While universities present challenges due to their open nature compared to K-12 schools, proper lockdown protocols, efficient communication systems, and strategic planning are essential to fortifying campus safety and minimizing the risk of high-fatality events.
Ultimately, reliance on a single measure is considered the "single point of failure," as illustrated in the case of the HCB building where the absence of a simple manual locking mechanism caused uncertainty and fear among students. The goal, Higgins explained, is always to ensure students have the best possible chance of safety in emergency situations.
- Despite the chilling reality of the shooting, Meghan Bannister and her classmates stayed calm, having been trained in active shooter responses since elementary school.
- After hearing gunfire and hiding, Bannister and her fellow students realized that the door they occupied in the HCB building did not lock from the inside, causing fear among them.
- Following the shooting incident, Bannister and her classmate, Sarah Walker, initiated a petition requesting that all classroom doors be equipped with manual locks for added security.
- Brian Higgins, an emergency preparedness expert, highlighted the importance of functional locks in an active shooter response plan, suggesting that proper lockdown protocols are crucial for campus safety.
- Higgins emphasized that relying on a single measure, such as an electronic locking system, could lead to the "single point of failure," as demonstrated in the case of the HCB building and the absence of a simple manual locking mechanism.
