Timeline of Skyline College Shooting
Slideshow of police response to shooting at Skyline College
Wednesday September 2, after students were held in their classes for over an hour, police carefully escorted students safely off campus. Most of the students knew that there was a shooting at school, but many students were confused and uninformed of what was going on.
“I’m very surprised it’s so close to home, you hear about it in other parts of the country,” said an anonymous source. “It’s strange once it happens so close to home.”
The lock down was informed though the sirens and an intercom system that alerted students of the emergency:
Attention skyline students and staff. You’ll be escorted off campus by San Bruno police. Classes are closed for the rest of the day. Please check the skyline website for further information.
Students who were in class were told to leave campus asked and weren’t informed of the situation. At approximately 2 pm, school administration imposed a school-wide lockdown and brought all students on campus into buildings, where doors were locked according to protocol.
At 2:15, lockdown was confirmed and police and S.W.A.T. team members began to make the scene in force. At 2:31p.m students were asked to put their hands over their heads and orderly evacuate the campus in a single file.
Students that were in the cafeteria were surprised by police and told to get away from the windows and go to the second floor.
Omar Cubillos, a student at Skyline, described the experience as eye-opening and overall felt pretty safe.
Katherine Harer, professor of English and creative writing said, “I feel sad for the victim, because this is a pretty safe campus.”
Some students were informed through the emergency text message system.
MSG: Active shooter at Skyline. Take safe cover immediately. Classes closed for the rest of the day.
Unfortunately, due to faulty technology and unreliable telephone service at skyline, many students didn’t get the message.
Barbara Christiansen, District Director of Community Government and Relations said, “I would say that it was more related to the carriers, but the important thing is that since enough people got the text message and they were able to warn others.”
There were an estimated 9300 students who signed up for the service. The new and remodeled buildings allow the campus to lock the rooms through a remote location-ensuring student safely.
A few students said they received messages from their parents through text messages.
Victoria Ferrari, skyline student, said, “We were shocked! My mom called and was giving me updates the whole time until the police came and escorted us out.”
Other students went to their cell phones and found information on news websites. A few students, who didn’t get the messages because they have classes at night, were instructed by the police to vacate the scene.
Additional information provided by: Marc Arguello, Alyssa Capili , Alessandro Fillari, Kenny Martin, Antoniette Estigoy, JJ Valdez and Andrew Lidwell.
