Students and professors filled the sidewalk areas outside Bentley Hall and Bentley Annex yesterday afternoon after someone used a pay phone to call in a bomb threat.
The caller, who sounded like a male trying to disguise his voice, used a pay phone in the Pizza Hut on Richland Avenue to call 9-1-1 at 11:42 a.m., claiming that Bentley Hall will be bombed in approximately 45 minutes
according to a news release from the Ohio University Police Department.
OUPD officers responded to the area and pulled fire alarms to evacuate both buildings, Lt. Stephen Noftz said.
Students and professors flowed onto the surrounding sidewalks, some standing on the stairways outside the buildings and on sidewalks within a few feet of the structures. Some people left the area as classes were canceled, and other bystanders were asked to move toward Copeland Hall as police taped off the area several minutes after arriving.
Some bystanders appeared concerned with the situation, while others joked and chatted with friends. Graduate student Will Miller said he was bothered that people were permitted to stand so close to the supposed bomb site.
When police told bystanders to move across the street, it wasn't like a 'the building could blow up and kill you ' Miller said. It was like a 'you're bothering us by being crowded around here.'
Miller said he was bothered by the way police handled the situation from beginning to end.
For probably 20 minutes I stood underneath the overhang of the annex
Miller said. It really
really concerns me that if they have a bomb threat
they're letting me stand basically in the doorway.
OUPD officers searched both buildings and secured the area by 12:23 p.m., according to the release. They deactivated the fire alarms about 30 minutes later and reopened the buildings for classes.
Though the scene was cleared, Miller said he felt police had not acted with an appropriate urgency. They just came and removed the tape like nothing happened
he said.
The department reported no suspects, and Noftz said the case is under investigation.
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Kantele Franko
