Shortly after 1:00 a.m. Tuesday, a campus-wide warning to shelter in place was emailed to the students here at The Catholic University of America through the RAVE Guardian alert system. The shelter in place warning was in response to an earlier claim made at 10:30 p.m. Monday by a custodian that there was a potentially armed gunman on campus. After several hours, the shelter in place warning was lifted, the campus was deemed safe, and campus activities were told to continue as normal. Students were notified of the end of the ordeal through an email alert. CUA announced through social media that Metro Police and DPS both concluded that there was no threat remaining on campus, no gunman was apprehended, nor were any suspect arrests made, which left students uneasy.

"My roommate and I were already in our room sleeping when the phone calls and emails went out. When we got the message, we made sure our door was locked and our binds were shut. I found it extremely concerning that DPS got the notification about the gunman at 10:30 p.m. and it wasn't until 1:15 a.m. that the lockdown message were sent out to students. That's two hours and 45 minutes that students were still out walking around campus and weren't notified of the situation. Following this situation, I am definitely more alert to my surroundings and I question how safe I truly am on campus. The big delay in alerting students makes me question how capable the university is in protecting the students," said Abby Nolan, a sophomore at CUA.

Abby, like so many other students, was completely stunned by the event. While students continue to process the gravity of the situation and the effectiveness of DPS on campus, the question of “what happened to the gunman?” is on the minds of all members of the CUA community. Additional questions about what is being done to promote student safety, and how effective CUA was in responding to the evening's event are starting to surface, but the administration, public safety, and public relations are all resoundingly silent on this Holy Day of Obligation. It has yet to be seen if additionally security measures will be taken to promote the students well being and safety.

Only last Monday CUA’s Student Government Association voted to arm all DPS officers on campus in order to combat active shooter situations. This legislation was passed on an overwhelmingly safe campus after minimal on-campus violent crime had occurred. Although the legislation is still being processed and the fate of the bill is still entirely unsure, there is still an alarming coincidence that so soon after the push to have the increased presence of firearms on campus, that almost immediately the real threat of an armed shooter presents itself.

While CUA braces itself for what seem to be an impending explosion of questions about the incident and presumably prepare to increase campus security, students continue to wonder if their university dealt with the deadly situation in an effective way.