UPDATED 4:00 P.M.
Drake students received multiple Bulldog Alerts early Thursday morning detailing reports of gunfire in an alleyway near the Kum & Go on 23rd St and University Ave.
According to Director of Public Safety Scott Law, multiple people, including Drake Public Safety and Des Moines PD officers, reported hearing shots fired around 2:05 a.m.
The first Bulldog Alert was sent out fifteen minutes later and warned students to stay away from the area, which is located east of campus.
A second alert indicated Des Moines Police Department began clearing the scene at 2:25 a.m., and a third, received at 3:01 a.m., reported that the area was no longer an “active scene.”
“To the best of my knowledge…(DMPD) had not found any shell casings, but we are pretty confident there were shots fired,” said Law.
There have been no arrests at this time related to the incident, and did not involve any Drake students.
Des Moines Police kept several officers in the area for several hours following the incident, and Public Safety was able to have extra officers out to be a “visible deterrent,” according to Law.
While students have received several timely warnings for various incidents this semester, Thursday’s notices were the first Bulldog Alerts to be issued this school year.
However, according to Law, the system Drake uses to alert students via phone call was knocked out, possibly due to the planned power outage related to the construction on campus.
Thus, only the text message and email alerts were able to be utilized. Drake Public Safety has since contacted RAVE, the service provider of these alerts, to run diagnostics to get the phone system back up and running.
A Bulldog Alert is different than a timely warning mainly because of the amount of danger posed to students. Bulldog Alerts warn of “present and immediate” danger and occur less frequently than timely warnings.
This is the second consecutive year Drake Public Safety has had to send out Bulldog Alerts early in the fall semester. Almost exactly one year ago, two shootings took place near campus over the span of four days.
This story will continue to be updated as the Times-Delphic receives more information.
Ya know one would think that you could get the name of a department in your own university correct. Drake has a Department of Public Safety commonly known just as Public Safety. They employ Public Safety Officers. Multiple times this year I have seen you refer public safety as “security” and their officers as “security guards”.