Jade Jimenez
On the evening of Sept. 4, a Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) was sent out to the Northfield area describing a man with a firearm. Ellie Porrata ’26 was in her night class at the time, barricading her classroom door with her peers.
“It was a very vague alert, and we’re in a classroom setting,” Porrata said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger. “The lack of details about where the person was made it more real and scary at that moment.”
The Northfield Police Department (NPD) was responding to an armed incident at Greenvale Place Apartments, in which the suspect fled the scene. The NPD issued a WEA to alert Northfield residents about the potential threat. However, since the threat was located downtown, the WEA did not alert the entirety of the St. Olaf campus, heightening fears amongst some students.
“I was texting my boyfriend — my boyfriend lives in Hillboe, and we were in Holland — and I texted him, ‘Are you okay?’ and he said, ‘What do you mean? What’s going on?’” Porrata said. “That’s when we all realized that half of the campus is not getting this alert… we must be in the radius of this man with the firearm.”
Later, an Ole Alert notified the entire campus community that the suspect had been apprehended. But since the initial WEA had not reached everyone, many were confused about the situation, leading to criticism of the communication provided by Public Safety and the NPD. Director of Public Safety Jeffrey Favreau said that this incident was not a typical one.
“In a perfect world, we would’ve gotten at least a couple minutes heads up from either Northfield Police or Rice County Sheriff that some sort of alert was going out, hopefully with some details,” Favreau said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger. “Unfortunately, based on the circumstances that we learned after the fact, that wasn’t really possible… They were pretty maxed with their capabilities. Then, information that was provided to be put out in the alert was not fully disseminated.”
There are conversations currently in the works on how to improve communication between the City of Northfield, St. Olaf, and Carleton. Morrison and Favreau have set up after-incident meetings to facilitate discussion.
“I’m hoping that through that collaboration with all of these departments, we will be able to have a more streamlined process where this type of thing won’t happen again,” Favreau said.
This alert comes in the wake of several incidents of gun violence in Minnesota, such as the murder of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark on June 14, the attack on Annunciation Catholic School on Aug. 27, and several other events nationwide. These events have caused campus staff to consider the potential impacts on student wellness.
“When I think about safety, I’m thinking about not just the physical sense, but the physical, emotional, mental — all of it,” Vice President for Student Life Hassel Morrison said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger.
Morrison shared that he has encountered a number of students struggling with a sense of unease after these events. The Counseling Center is prepared to respond to students struggling with the Sept. 4 incident and others that may be affecting them.
“You can’t stop incidents from happening, but what you can do is make sure students know where to report and how to report,” Morrison said.
As St. Olaf moves forward, the campus community will continue to be a source of support for one another.
“Campus safety is everybody’s job,” Favreau said. “We want people to feel comfortable interacting with Public Safety, reaching out to Public Safety, not withholding something because they are uncomfortable.”