Northwestern students criticize university's response to fatal shooting near campus
EVANSTON, Ill. (CBS) – New details were revealed a day after a shooting at a popular beach in Evanston, just steps from the Northwestern University campus. Three teenagers were shot and one of them died.
Police are still searching for the gunman. CBS 2's Charlie De Mar was in Evanston on Thursday where there was a lot of concern about how the university responded in the minutes following the shooting.
For those familiar with the Northwestern campus, they know it is very close to the scene at Clark Street Beach. Even though the shooting didn't involve any Northwestern students, the university is responding after receiving criticism about the time it took to notify the campus about the potential threat.
Clark Street Beach in Evanston was back open on Thursday, but just hours earlier, police tape, flashing lights and bullet casings covered the beach.
Three people were shot, including Jaquis Irby, 18, who died. Two other 15-year-olds were wounded. Police said the shooting stemmed from an argument and was not random.
"That's been the talk of campus," said Northwestern student Malcolm Turner. "Everyone is really upset and disappointed that that was the response of the university."
Students CBS 2 spoke to called out the university for its response to the shooting. A generic robo call with no information was sent to students on Wednesday night.
The message said: "University police are responding to a report of a blank on the Evanston campus at blank. Please avoid the area and await further info."
"Comical is a pretty good word," said student Tyler Greenfield. "I'm pretty sure what they said, 'There's been a blank at blank' essentially."
Northwestern said a review is already underway of "the phone communication that was sent in error to ensure we do better when the next incident happens."
"I think it was pretty indicative that Northwestern wasn't ready for a situation like this," Greenfield said.
Northwestern also took responsibility for the time it took to alert the campus, saying in part, "the first message went out roughly 30 minutes after shots were fired. We agree we should shorten that window."
Russell Kolins is a security consultant.
"Timing and the response time is very important, and there was a fault that was created here," Kolins said. "The school is taking this seriously, and I think that the students should be aware that there's a very serious approach to fixing it."
Ryan Lin, another Northwestern student, added, "I feel like the university handled it poorly."
Northwestern did issue a shelter in place order. There were also complaints about difficulties of locking down some of the campus building. CBS 2 was told Northwestern will be taking a closer look at that portion of their response as well.
As for the two 15-year-olds shot, police said one of them is in critical condition and the other has been released.