Suspect
Threatened To
Blow Up The
School. Was The
Campus
Prepared?
Stacey Wang
Managing Editor
Campus police were put to the test
after receiving a false report about a
bomb on campus on Tuesday, April
24.
At 2:16 p.m., a male called the
campus police and stated, “You guys
might want to vacate everybody
there. I just planted some bombs and
they’re going to explode pretty soon.”
“We [campus police] knew when
we first got the call that it was a
prank,” said Peter Michael, PCC
chief of police. Michael, who was a
hostage negotiator for 22 years,
explained that it sounded like a joke
from the tone of his voice. “However,
We handled [the threat] exactly the
same way as if it were a credible
threat,” he added.
Throughout the campus, some
heard rumors about a bomb while
others heard nothing at all.
Among the students who caught
wind of what happened was student
Loren Contreras, engineering major,
who felt that the school should have
at least warned students. Contreras
saw the administration’s lack of
warning similar to what happened in
the recent shootings at Virginia Tech.
“[The reaction] was pretty sad on
the school’s part because it shows
how unorganized they are. It doesn’t
seem like it was taken seriously,” he
said. During the time that word
spread about the bomb scare, Contr¬
eras was attending class in the U
Building and wasn’t aware of the
incident until interviewed.
“It would be hard to get all of the
students to evacuate, especially if a
bomb detonates while they’re evacu¬
ating. Sometimes it is safer to stay in
class,” campus police officer Lt. Brad
Young stated.
“Campus security asked if I saw a
suitcase, and I heard others talking
about the bomb threat out loud,” said
Sheima Berenji, a student from Glen¬
dale Academy. Berenji was waiting
for a friend in the parking lot when
she was approached and questioned
by a PCC cadet. “When it went
through my mind, it worried me
because of what happened at Vir¬
ginia Tech.”
The campus police handle bomb
threats and scares differently since a
bomb threat includes a detonation
time, while a bomb scare does not,
Young said.
The incident on Tuesday was con¬
sidered a bomb scare since the sus¬
pect did not mention a detonation
time. “It’s a judgment call because 97
percent of all bomb calls are false
alarms, and evacuating the whole
college is a huge decision,” he said.
Young also explained that had there
been a bomb threat, the campus
police would have evacuated the
entire school.
Student Socheat Pech, 20, market¬
ing major, was among many in the
CC Lounge during the time when
Scott Thayer, dean of student servic¬
es, evacuated the building, telling stu¬
dents it was a fire drill.
PCC has no official drills held on
campus, but are expected to respond
when an alarm is sounded.
Across the campus, faculty and
students in the T Building were also
asked to leave the campus, not just
the building.
Most students who were in the CC
Lounge approved of Thayer’s deci¬
sion to tell students it was a fire drill
instead of a bomb scare. “If they told
us it was a bomb threat, it would’ve
scared people,” said Pech.
The last bomb scare occurred
about six years ago at the CEC. At
the time, a piece of paper with the
word “boom” was hung on the door
of the multipurpose room. During
that time, a political meeting was in
session, and due to the type of event
that was taking place, Young author¬
ized an evacuation of the building.
Although the scare on Tuesday
was a false alarm, campus police felt
that it was good practice for the
cadets. “We haven’t had a drill like
this in a long time, so this was the
perfect opportunity,” said Michael.
Young also pointed out that the
volume of threats tends to peak after
disasters, in this case, the massacre at
Virginia Tech.
Moments after campus police
received the phone call, they sent a
full staff of 40 cadets to sweep the
campus for bombs. Two cadets were
sent to each sector, with 11 sectors
total, working their way from the top
of the buildings down. After search¬
ing the 53-acre campus and all 55 of
its buildings, all of the cadets report¬
ed back with negative results.
Campus police also went through
the process of notifying division and
department heads about what was
occurring. However, during the com¬
motion that ensued, the athletics divi¬
sion did not receive word. “Since it
would have put faculty staff and stu¬
dents in danger, we should have been
notified. We have to take every threat
as a serious threat,” said athletic
director Skip Robinson, who was
unaware of the bomb scare until
interviewed.
-Additional reporting by Christian Daly
Officer Michael Despain searches for any sign of explosives in the C Building on Tuesday. A
suspect called the police department claiming to have planted bombs accross the campus.
Student Maced
Raul Cabral
News Editor
A student was pepper sprayed and arrested by
campus police after jumping into the campus pool
and resisting arrest.
Swim coach Terry Stoddard notified police of a
disturbance on April 9 after a student asked if he
could use the pool. After the two exchanged words
and Stoddard said that he could not because it was
in use, the student jumped into the pool fully
clothed and then simply got out and headed into the
locker room in the W Building.
Officer Alan Chan approached the suspect, who
was living out of the locker room in the W Building.
After trying to talk to the transient, which did not
work, the student resisted arrest, which forced Chan
to use the majority of a can of pepper spray to sub¬
due him.
Chan, who is on vacation, was unavailable for
comment, but according to Chief of Police Peter
Michael, standard procedure was followed before
the spray was used. Chan asked for identification
and received it, but after he asked the student to sit
down, he refused. “The suspect opened the locker
he was using and ignored Officer Chan’s request,”
said Michael. “Chan told him to leave his hands
where he could see them, but he did not comply.”
The transient then walked toward Chan and
pushed the officer’s outstretched arm out of the way,
which is when Chan began to use the spray. The
spray, however, seemed to have no effect, which is
why he continued to use it. “From my experience, I
initially thought he [suspect] was under the influ¬
ence of PCP, because I’ve seen guys who are on
PCP get hit with pepper spray and it doesn’t affect
them,” said Michael.
The Pasadena Police Department was called in
for backup, and, after campus police arrested and
booked the student, he was released.
Doctors examined the student, who turned out to
be ok. “Anytime we use pepper spray, the suspects
have to be checked out; it’s standard procedure,”
said Michael.
According to a 1999 issue of the North Carolina
Medical Journal, depending on the brand, pepper
spray may contain water, alcohols, or organic sol¬
vents as liquid carriers; and nitrogen, carbon diox¬
ide, or halogenated hydrocarbons (such as Freon,
tetrachloroethylene, and methylene chloride) as pro¬
pellants to discharge the canister contents. Inhala¬
tion of high doses of some of these chemicals can
produce adverse cardiac, respiratory, and neurolog¬
ic effects, including arrhythmias and sudden death.
