Gunmen, firefighters on campus for emergency drill

The seventh and eighth floors of Davis Library were home to several gunmen armed with rifles Wednesday morning.

As part of an emergency drill scheduled by UNC’s Department of Public Safety, yellow caution tape was affixed to the brick columns in front of the library, and the dull sound of an emergency siren could be heard sounding throughout the building.

There were 11 simulated victims, including one police officer and one deceased suspect.

Town of Chapel Hill firefighters and emergency medical technicians were recording victims’ information as well as examining their health conditions in the entrance of Davis.

Simulated victims suffered from wounds including those to the neck, leg and jaw, and were taken out of Davis on stretchers. One, a woman named Lisa, was escorted from the elevator by three firefighters.

Raleigh Road was lined with vehicles from the Chapel Hill Fire Department, Orange County Emergency Services, Chapel Hill Life Safety and the UNC Police Department, and was closed to automobile traffic for most of the morning.

The University hired the Burlington-based crisis management firm EnviroSafe to coordinate and administer the drill in response to state task force recommendations.

The task forces were commissioned after the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre to increase safety in North Carolina schools, said UNC police chief Jeff McCracken, director of UNC’s Department of Public Safety. The groups recommended that UNC conduct emergency exercises regularly.

The last full-scale emergency drill was held at the Outdoor Education Center in April 2010, said Randy Young, the information liaison officer for DPS.

In a media brief Wednesday, McCracken said he feels the University would be able to handle an emergency situation similar to the one simulated in Davis, and that the drill helped DPS to determine whether communication during the incident was effective.

He also emphasized that emergency situations could occur at any time — including those not related to gun violence, such as incidents relating to hazardous materials and research.

Eunjee Lee, an international graduate student in statistics, said the drill disrupted her schedule slightly, but that she thought the summer was a good time to conduct the drill.

Landon James, a senior double majoring in computer science and mathematics who works at the library, said he thought the drill was beneficial.

“I think it perhaps serves to scare the public a little more than it needs to, but I think it’s probably necessary for them to practice and be prepared,” he said.

James said he thought running the drill during the interval between summer sessions was a good idea since few students are on campus.

He added that he thought Davis Library was a fitting location, since the library is the largest building on campus.