After a 26-year-old man opened fire on a community college campus at Oregon State University on the 1st October 2015, where a total of 10 people ranging in ages of 18 to 65 were killed, police have been investigating an online copycat threat made against students attending the University of Edinburgh.
The comments were posted on an anonymous website, after the shooting at an Oregon college in the US on Thursday the 1st October 2015 took place. It was suggested something similar would happen in Edinburgh and warned students not to go to the University on the Friday that followed.The post has now been removed and is not thought to be credible.
Helen Groenendaal Senior Student Wellbeing officer here at Royal Holloway University of London, gave a statement on the collage’s policy if such an incident was ever to occur saying.
“Our campus and community is well known for being a safe and supportive one and we are committed to doing all we can to maintain this and ensure we are not complacent about risk. We work to identify any vulnerabilities or risks affecting the student body and to help students and others to mitigate these risks. To help achieve this we have a wide range of support services available for students who have concerns about themselves or friends. We would ask any member of the university with worries to contact our welfare teams so we can ensure students are given appropriate support or advice.
As with all large institutions we have procedures in place to respond to the unlikely event of an emergency situation and these are regularly reviewed to reflect current threats or trends.”
However rare these incidents may be, they reminds us to remain vigilant and attentive should there be any unusual or suspicious behaviour occurring.