On October 24, Moss Hall was evacuated at 5:18 p.m. by the Longwood University Police Department (LUPD) due to a “report of a bomb threat,” according to a Longwood Alert. Soon after, at 5:35 p.m., students received another alert announcing the situation had been resolved and the building was cleared for re-entry. The incident comes just over a week after a bomb threat against Grainger Hall that shut the building down for two hours on October 14.
In an email to all students sent out at 6:31 p.m., Vice President for Student Affairs Cam Patterson gave an update. In the email, he said, “Longwood Police responded to a secondhand report that had been interpreted as a possible reference to a bomb in the building. On scene shortly thereafter, Longwood Police was able to quickly compile information to determine the threat was not credible.”
He said once LUPD was confident there was no credible threat to Moss Hall, an all-clear was issued and students were permitted to re-enter the building.
Patterson said the reported bomb threat is unrelated to last week’s bomb threat against Grainger Hall which resulted in the arrest of a 22-year-old Farmville resident. The accused person is currently being held on charges of Threatening to Bomb or Burn a Building and the Use of a Computer for Harassment, according to Virginia Judiciary Online Case Information System.
In an email statement to The Rotunda on Friday morning, University Spokesman Matt McWilliams stated the University will continue communicating with community members in light of the two incidents.
“Students, faculty, and staff can be assured that LUPD and University administrators will always treat every situation that involves the safety of the campus community with the utmost seriousness,” McWilliams wrote, “even if the report is, as was the case in Moss Hall yesterday… an interpretation of second-hand information.”
McWilliams added that, “The decision to evacuate Moss Hall until the situation could be understood in full was made with an abundance of caution and in the interest of our students’ safety at the top of mind. That will continue to be the way that decisions like this are made.
