PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Bradley University‘s president, police chief, and students are all speaking out after a bomb threat was called into the campus Tuesday.
In his six-paragraph statement, Stephen Standifird, Bradley’s president, said he was confident in the “safety of the campus and that this would be an ongoing investigation.”
Bradley’s police chief Brian Joschko said at about 7:22 p.m., the Bradley University Police Department received a call of someone saying they were inside the Business Engineering and Convergence Center with explosives.
The campus was put on lockdown and people on campus were told to shelter in place while police evacuated and swept the building. No bomb was reportedly found and the all-clear was given at 9:55 pm.
The president said counseling services for students who needed it was available.
His statement is below:
As you are aware, a bomb threat was reported yesterday evening, April 25, resulting in a campus-wide lockdown.
Bradley President Stephen Standifird
While this threat proved to be unfounded, we take any threat seriously and will continue to take the utmost concern for our campus safety. The events of last night resonated across campus, and we recognize any such emergency response causes anxiety, stress and fear. I want to assure you that our campus is safe. Police received a very specific threat of a caller claiming he was in the building with explosive devices, but an investigation and thorough sweep of the building proved the individual was never there and no bombs or any type of devices were found to be present.
We are confident in the safety of campus and this will continue to be an on-going investigation.
We want to thank all of our first responders – both within the Bradley Police Department and our partners at the Peoria Police Department. Their swift action and expertise in handling the situation helped to ensure the safety and security of the entire campus.
I also want to thank our campus community for their cooperation and understanding during this stressful time. Counseling services are available for students at 309-677-2700 or 309-677-3200 after-hours.
While this incident has caused concern and disruption to our daily routine, I want to reiterate we take the safety of our campus very seriously. We will continue to take all necessary measures to ensure that our campus remains a safe and secure environment for learning, research, and community, including a review of our campus emergency and communication plan.
But some students said although they’re happy there was no threat found, they wish there was more communication during the brief shelter in place.
Initially, it was very ambiguous,” Christina Vorukova, a freshman at Bradley, said. “I didn’t really quite understand what was going on. They didn’t really give out a bunch of information. Just the speaker went off and they said there was an intruder on campus.”
Vorukova said many student were searching social media and news outlets for any bit of information.
“I just wish that they at least stated that it was a bomb threat and not allowed all the rumors to get out of hand the way that they did,” Vorukova said. “Because your mind tends to go crazy when you’re under a lot of stress.”
Chief Joschko said the response and the decision to wait before issuing a lockdown was intentional.
“As officers were responding, we had a caller on the line and so as we were getting that information we needed to make sure that we responded appropriately,” Joschko said. “So it was a very complex threat that was provided to the institution. It was not something as simple as there is a bomb in the building.”
He said based off of they information police had at the time, he believes they way law enforcement responded was appropriate. He said there will be a debriefing period Bradley and Peoria police will come together and discuss the situation.
Joschko also said it’s still too early in the investigation to classify this as a swatting hoax, but he said multiple agencies are still investigating including Bradley PD, the Peoria Police Department, and the FBI.
He said counseling services were provided to students on Wednesday and overall he’s proud the threat was unfounded and no one was hurt.
