UVU Students Thankful For Notification System During Shooting Incident

OREM, Utah — Students at Utah Valley University said they were thankful for the steady stream of updates administrators gave as a shooting incident unfolded near the campus.

The shooting happened at the Parkway Lofts Apartments near campus around 8 o’clock Thursday evening. Orem Police said 26-year-old Dominique Barnett died after someone shot him in a breezeway.

Police are still searching for the shooter.

As police investigated, the university kept students in the loop through text, email, and social media messages.

“UVU Alert: 2/28, 9:27p, UVU & Orem PD continue to search area for suspect. Shelter in Place. Avoid Parkway Lofts and general area,” the first alert read.

Students said it was scary to hear about a shooting so close to campus, but the updates that came every 20 to 30 minutes helped ease their fears.

“It’s scary. You can’t deny the fact that there’s a shooting happening. That’s always terrifying. Knowing that the police are on it and they’re trying to find the person is fantastic,” said UVU senior Jessica Marshall.

“I think it’s really important to have that reassurance, but also to be in the loop of what’s going on so that you can prepare accordingly, keep your family safe,” said graduate student Michael Wilkes.

UVU spokesperson Scott Tretter said administrators worked hard to verify all the information that came in before passing it along.

“Our primary concern, as always, is the safety of our students, staff, and faculty. Campus administrators received verified information about the shooting last night, and we promptly called for a shelter-in-place response. We did this out of an abundance of caution,” Trotter said. “We are continuing to assess our policies and procedures and fine tune the timelines in which information is released. Under the circumstances last night, it was vital to us to verify details before they were sent out on a large scale. We were thankful to resume normal operations and class schedules today,”