2008 Woodie Awards
Tom Lawrence discusses emergency response
Gregory Leporati & Christina Heiser
Issue date: 10/3/07 Section: News
Tom Lawrence, Vice President of St. John's Department of Public Safety, had to act quickly on Wednesday when reports came in regarding a student on campus wearing a mask and carrying a rifle.
The torch had the opportunity to sit down with Lawrence the day after the incident to discuss how Public Safety reacted to the near-crisis, what he felt needed to be improved upon, and how big a role the emergency notification service played.
Torch: How did you first hear about the incident, and what was your immediate reaction to hearing there was a gunman on campus?
Tom Lawrence: The first instance that we heard was at 2:21 p.m. We got a call that a man had entered campus. A student saw someone on campus with a bag, possibly a stick in the bag. The officers at that point were dispatched and started to roll towards Taffner Fieldhouse, where the person had been seen. There was another call at 2:24 p.m. about a male with a mask, possibly with a gun, heading from Taffner towards the law school. This elicited an even further response, with myself running out and joining one of the cars as we headed towards Marillac Hall, since there was information that he was around there. At 2:24 p.m., when we heard he had a gun, we called 911. We went into Marillac, and while searching, a couple students told us that they just saw the guy at St. John's Hall within two minutes.
I started to walk with another officer towards St. John's Hall, and as we were by the terrace, the red-brick area by the umbrellas, someone said, "There he is up top."
My officers that were still in the building walked into the breezeway while the suspect was coming out. They met and struggled for the gun. The cadet was behind him, and saw the officer struggling with the gun. He [the cadet] pushed the student with the gun to the wall. By the time I got there, the suspect was pushed up against the wall and the gun was away from him. I went downstairs then to put out the text message.
The torch had the opportunity to sit down with Lawrence the day after the incident to discuss how Public Safety reacted to the near-crisis, what he felt needed to be improved upon, and how big a role the emergency notification service played.
Torch: How did you first hear about the incident, and what was your immediate reaction to hearing there was a gunman on campus?
Tom Lawrence: The first instance that we heard was at 2:21 p.m. We got a call that a man had entered campus. A student saw someone on campus with a bag, possibly a stick in the bag. The officers at that point were dispatched and started to roll towards Taffner Fieldhouse, where the person had been seen. There was another call at 2:24 p.m. about a male with a mask, possibly with a gun, heading from Taffner towards the law school. This elicited an even further response, with myself running out and joining one of the cars as we headed towards Marillac Hall, since there was information that he was around there. At 2:24 p.m., when we heard he had a gun, we called 911. We went into Marillac, and while searching, a couple students told us that they just saw the guy at St. John's Hall within two minutes.
I started to walk with another officer towards St. John's Hall, and as we were by the terrace, the red-brick area by the umbrellas, someone said, "There he is up top."
My officers that were still in the building walked into the breezeway while the suspect was coming out. They met and struggled for the gun. The cadet was behind him, and saw the officer struggling with the gun. He [the cadet] pushed the student with the gun to the wall. By the time I got there, the suspect was pushed up against the wall and the gun was away from him. I went downstairs then to put out the text message.
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