Three buildings receive bomb threats Monday

By Mahita Gajanan

Tess Kolarik had just returned from her morning run on Monday when she found out that she… Tess Kolarik had just returned from her morning run on Monday when she found out that she couldn’t get back into her dorm room in Lothrop Hall.

So instead of waiting outside the evacuated building, she took refuge in Hillman Library.

“A couple friends and I got a room in Hillman last night,” Kolarik said. “I didn’t have my phone, so I was hoping they would still be there. Luckily, they were.”

At 9:20 a.m. on Monday, Pitt sent out an Emergency Notification System alert to notify the campus that Barco Law School Building, Lothrop Hall and Holland Hall had received bomb threats.

These threats bring the semester’s total count to 97.

Kolarik noted that the threats were getting in the way of her schedule, even though she hadn’t been in Lothrop for the evacuation.

“It wasn’t the worst-case scenario, but it was still inconvenient,” she said. “I’ll probably have to skip a class later today because I have to get ready for a job interview.”

Freshman Danielle Verdirame was asleep when the alarms went off in Holland Hall, signaling a bomb threat. It was her first time being evacuated because she was away from campus when Holland received other bomb threats this semester.

Verdirame and her friends went to Posvar Hall after leaving their dorms.

“Nobody told us where to go. They told us to leave the building, so we just went to get breakfast,” she said.

Despite the growing number of bomb threats, Verdirame was unshaken.

“People are less scared and just frustrated at this point,” she said.

Editors note: The total bomb threat count only includes threats to University buildings. The 97 threats also include two threats to University buildings that went unreported over the weekend.