A portion of the Pitt community received a delayed ENS alert during a recent armed shooter hoax at Barco Law Building.
On Aug. 28, University and City of Pittsburgh police responded to an unconfirmed report of an armed person at Barco Law Building. Pitt ENS first alerted the Pitt community of a disturbance at 12:28 p.m. and sent a second alert that police had cleared the scene and found the threat unfounded at 12:49 p.m, though a number of people received delayed messages.
“After consulting with our partners at Pitt Digital and RAVE Guardian, it was determined that a carrier issue impacted a small portion of our subscribers,” said University spokesperson Jared Stonesifer.
Stonesifer said Pitt understands the concerns regarding the delayed ENS message, and members of the Pitt community can take additional steps to stay updated during an emergency by updating their notification preferences, following Pitt Police on social media and spreading the message to others after receiving an ENS alert.
Pitt ENS previously received criticism when no formal alert was sent out to the community about an attack in the Cathedral of Learning in August 2024. At the time, Chief of Pitt Police Holly Lamb said an ENS alert was not necessary because the situation was “immediately contained” and there was no ongoing threat to the Pitt community.
Students also criticized Pitt ENS in April 2023 after police responded to a hoax active shooter threat in Hillman Library. The community was alerted about the threat of an active shooter more than an hour after police evacuated the library.
Since the Hillman hoax, Pitt has updated its emergency alert protocols and system, according to the University Times.
Macee Wilson, a first-year biological sciences major, signed up for the ENS texts, calls and emails. She said she received the email late and did not receive a message notifying her of the disturbance until around 3 or 4 p.m.
“I got the text saying it was cleared, and then two hours later, I got the message saying to stay away from the building,” Wilson said.
Grace Piro, a first-year actuarial math major, said she received text and call notifications when the initial ENS alert was sent out, but also received another alert about an unconfirmed armed person at 3:25 p.m.
“I was just a little confused. I brushed it off because it was probably a glitch,” Piro said. “But at first, I was walking, so I was like, ‘Should I be walking?’ But I just kind of continued with my day.”
Moonyoung Hwang, a first-year microbiology major, said she received the ENS alert and immediately texted one of her friends who was meeting her in Hillman Library to not go anywhere.
“She didn’t realize that was happening [at Barco], and she didn’t get the [initial] notification until 10 or 15 minutes after the ENS sent me the notification that the scene had been cleared,” Hwang said.
