Cell phone-wired briefcase prompts 3-hour scare at College of Charleston
The Post and Courier
A bomb squad technician, with robot nearby, inspects cars parked along Calhoun Street, where Charleston police responded to a suspicious package.
Warning students
How other local colleges notify students in case of emergency:
Charleston Southern
The school has a new emergency notification system that within minutes can send a message to students' phones, pagers and e-mail addresses. It also can send text messages.
The Citadel
The school uses a public address system, e-mail and Web site, and cadet leaders also can pass down information. The school is considering a cell phone notification system.
Trident Tech
The college uses a public address system in classrooms, offices and hallways; e-mail; its Web site; emergency information line and media outlets. The school is considering a cell phone notification system.
A hard-shell briefcase containing batteries and magnets with wires snaking out to connect with an open cell phone prompted a three-hour bomb scare Friday morning at the College of Charleston.
Shortly after the "highly suspicious package" was found around 9 a.m., police were instructed to watch for anyone with a cell phone looking in the direction of the suspect briefcase near a Calhoun Street sidewalk near Coming Street.
About noon, police ordered students at King and Calhoun streets to take shelter away from the scene. Shortly after that, police said the device had been "rendered safe" and taken away for analysis.
Authorities said Friday night that they had determined there was no explosive incendiary device and that the public was in no danger. They would not elaborate.The experience left some students shaken.
"It was scary," said Adrian Gant, a junior. "We didn't know what was going on for the longest time. It was just the unknown."
Michael Cunningham, a junior, said he got the first official word about the situation shortly before noon, when an officer told students, including him, to get away from windows in the library at Calhoun and Coming streets.
"It blew my mind that I still had to be on campus when there was a bomb on campus," Cunningham said.
His mother, Angie Cunningham of Lexington, complained that her son said he had not been notified of the bomb threat. "Have we, as a nation, not learned the lessons of failed emergency communications?" she said.
Students, faculty and staff received an e-mail notifying them about the situation and three subsequent e-mail updates. The college posted information on its Web site. Dormitory officials informed residents, and faculty were asked to notify students in class. Staffers kept students out of potentially dangerous areas, college spokesman Mike Roberts said.
The college is working on an upgraded emergency notification system that also could include phone messages and text messages, Roberts said.
College President George Benson said he left the campus between 11:30 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. to attend a "long-standing luncheon appointment" Friday on Kiawah Island with "prominent individuals." The group also planned to play golf after lunch. The luncheon was arranged to forge relationships that would benefit the college, he said.
He would have returned to the campus after lunch and skipped the golf game if he was needed, he said. But he got a call from the college just after the group finished lunch and learned that the situation was under control. So he proceeded to play golf, he said.
He was in constant contact with campus officials, he said.
"In this day and age, you can make decisions from a cell phone," he said.
Benson also said that he was on the campus in the morning and worked with other campus leaders on the plan to handle the situation. At the time he left the campus, he said, "police were in charge ... and I had absolute confidence in what they were doing. This was their situation."
Shortly after David Berndt, 57, of George Street reported the device at 9:02 a.m. police closed Calhoun Street between King and Coming streets, a police report said. The briefcase was across from the college in front of the BellSouth building. The college treasurer's office and the health center were shut down. Classes in the Calhoun annex and BellSouth building were canceled. Students were not permitted to enter the Berry and College Lodge residence halls, but those inside could stay. Kinko's and Starbucks also were shut.
Police called in an explosives sniffing dog and a robot armed with a camera. Bomb experts took away the device at about noon, said police spokesman Charles Francis. Berndt did not respond to phone messages seeking comment.
About 30 yellow evidence markers identifying tiny pieces of debris could be seen on Calhoun Street near Coming Street. Police searched shrubs in front of the college energy plant on Calhoun Street, where they lifted a manhole cover to look inside. The State Law Enforcement Division and the FBI were at the scene.
Reach Prentiss Findlay at 937-5711 or pfindlay@postandcourier.com. Reach Diane Knich at 937-5491 or dknich@postandcourier.com.
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Comments
realman (anonymous) says...
Good job by the police. C of C president didn't need to be there.
September 22, 2007 at 12:46 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
beemz (anonymous) says...
what is wrong with people,these idiotic attempts at humor is not funny,especially in the time we are living in.
find their DUMB ASSES and show them just how funny... it is doing this juvenile prank...... by putting their stupid asses in jail.
September 22, 2007 at 1:06 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sjmehlhose (anonymous) says...
The phone should be easily tracable and the culprits should do some serious time for this. We can't tolerate this type of prank in this day and age.
September 22, 2007 at 8:55 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
exorcist_pencocky (anonymous) says...
I would hope the city of charleston police remembered to dust for any possible prints.
Yea, I know what you're thinking, but after the fire department problem, and mayor riley still being in charge down there, no telling what rules of evidence gathering their working under.
It's the small, southern town, mentality thing.
September 22, 2007 at 9:17 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
donnaversaggi (anonymous) says...
Don't make an issue of the President not being there, he made the right decision... A more important issue is how the information is filtered to the students and faculty. Emails were sent, but students with early morning classes may not read their email. Text messaging would be much more effective and timely.
September 22, 2007 at 9:25 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
RTC (anonymous) says...
This was not only a stupid thing to do, but a lot of people were inconvienced by a childish jokester.
They probably used one of those "throw away phones", so it could not be traced.
September 22, 2007 at 9:56 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MajorTom (anonymous) says...
It's good to see the Cunninghams have a such tight mother/son relationship.
September 22, 2007 at 11:26 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kiawahdeb (anonymous) says...
what makes so many people think its a college kids prank?
if it happens to be, don't waste the tax payers money by putting them in jail, just throw them out of school and ban then from charleston. i think that would be a better alternative, besides, there would be some pretty annoyed parents that won't let them live that down along with all the students, professors, and general population of charleston that was disrupted and frightened yesterday.
PS I think getting EVERYONE out of all the bldgings, closing all classes for the day would have been prudent.
If the President left the area during a crisis, well his action speaks louder then words. I think a bomb threat was more important then lunch and golf. the safety of students rested in his hands. he should have canceled all classes.
September 22, 2007 at 12:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
allenmicheal (anonymous) says...
As a student of the college, I will say that there are a number of community service activities offered here at the college, including Habitat for Humanity. Not having something to do isn't really the reason for this. Also... it cannot be assumed that this was the action of a student in the first place. Calhoun street is quite public...
September 22, 2007 at 1:06 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kiawahdeb (anonymous) says...
Why would people be safer in a bldging in the area where a bomb may be? Suppose the worse scenario, that possibly the person(s) that the brief case was placed by could have put a detonator that would cause explosions in the surrounding bldgs? No one knew the extent of this circumstance. This "explosive" could have been attached to something in the bldgs, or maybe like some say, 'it's a prank'. But I remember in America not to long ago, Oklahoma City bombing, 911 and dare I say Virginia Tech along with so many other things. There are crazy people everywhere, so we should not take our children's lives so lightly. If this was a prank, someone has a very sick sense of humor. I take something like this serious and think so should the leader in charge, he left for lunch and golf. It would was more important then students, workers and professionals that stayed there. Maybe I'm being over cautious, but protecting people and avoiding danger and not having to say later on, " gee, maybe we should have evacuated everyone" is something I think none of us would want to live with. I know the police, FBI and bomb squads took care of things, and we should thank them for their good work and putting their own lives on the line. Thank God that nothing happened here. but look at Delaware College yesterday. I think that we need more protection downtown, more police watching the streets, not to scare people, but just to let them know, there is help always available and to deter criminals. People should be safe and not afraid in Charleston SC, the Holy City. My dream is a safe place when you are in Charleston, maybe its a dream but, I think that somewhere in all our hearts we share it while at the Music Farm or listening to Van Halen, Mims, Miles Davis or watching Lost, 300, playing guitar hero, soccer, arm wrestling, drinking a beer or whatever you do. You want to know that we are living in the land of the free the home of the brave and the best people from everywhere in the world are here, in America. But a few are troubled. They think its okay ruin things because of their very unhappy childhood or whatever.
I don't think we should dismiss this because someone said, "the telephone was on the outside of the brief case", I don't know much about this stuff, but I do know when you go to a gas station you are not to use your cell phone by the pumps, because it can cause an explosion.
Don't shrug your shoulders and dismiss this so quickly. Be careful and if you see someone put a brief case down, drop a bag in front of our school or anything suspicious, maybe we should kick their a$$ in and tell them to leave town! Thank you, someone who loves Charleston, the Holy City...
September 22, 2007 at 3:24 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kiawahdeb (anonymous) says...
yeah, you don't bring down a plane with box cutters either
September 22, 2007 at 6:09 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
wonderdog (anonymous) says...
if you think we need more police officers, contact the city and ask them to increase the budget.
September 22, 2007 at 6:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
RTC (anonymous) says...
Call the mayor, he will jump right on it.
September 22, 2007 at 7:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kiawahdeb (anonymous) says...
as i watch CNN now w/ glenn beck,,,schools in 10 NJ towns were closed due to bomb threats. are you under a rock??
September 22, 2007 at 7:07 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rollo (anonymous) says...
"I don't know much about this stuff," well, that explains everything else you've said.
September 22, 2007 at 7:52 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
RTC (anonymous) says...
Does this kid know that they have disproved that a cell phone will cause an explosion at a gas pump?
They have even removed the warning stickers from what I have seen.
September 22, 2007 at 8:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
shay (anonymous) says...
Everyone is so quick to label this as a prank. The frightening question that comes to my mind is "Was this a test run to see how long it would take for police to respond; a chance to see how it was handled?" One prays that this is not the case but you never know. It needs to be considered as an opportunity for the college, city police, FBI, emergency services, etc to review and critique their response.
September 22, 2007 at 9:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kiawahdeb (anonymous) says...
thank you shay. i think you summed up the point i was trying to make.
September 22, 2007 at 9:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
caesar156 (anonymous) says...
For the person who suggests not taking up issue with the president over his decision to leave the school- you might should consider the important role he could have played in disseminating to the students useful information for their safety and well being instead of assuming the situation was under control. Having personally called his office myself that morning, none of his staff were the least bit informed about what was going on to be able to say which buildings were open or not. In fact, the person I spoke with said the bellsouth building was open and then interjected that all buildings were closed- while Live 5 News was already broadcasting otherwise. No emails had been sent updating the students until after the time the president was leaving and having checked the website myself between 10 and noon know that nothing was posted there by the school.
For my sister who had a test in that building, I thought it was important for her and others on campus to know exactly where they were safe. As events proved, most of them had to find out for themselves- being turned away by police as they tried to get to class. The president of the college had an obligation above any scheduled lunch date to guarantee a proper flow of communication as events unfolded throughout the entire day.
Seeing how authorities still have yet to disclose how serious this threat really was (a practical joke or someone testing the waters?), I'd like to know how President Benson so quickly deduced his campus was safe and there was nothing left for him to do. If that is his mentality than perhaps he's right- there is nothing left for him to do at C of C except impeachment and making way for someone who takes the job more seriously.
September 22, 2007 at 11:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
cougar2010 (anonymous) says...
Information about the situation was very hard to obtain. I was unable to get into my dorm, and had no way to get to a computer to check email for any information. Public Safety would only tell us they were trying to "get a situation under control". For the 2 hours I was waiting outside I heard so many twisted stories about the actual event that it caused even more worry/stress and frustration among the students sitting right there with me. The police did a fine job handling the situation. But as a student who was forced to sit on St. Philips Street(RIGHT in front of Berry dorm) rather then being allowed to enter Im rather outraged at the College's handling of the situation. Many College Officials couldn't even give a clear answer as to whether classes were still in session for the day. And how in the world does President Benson justify lunch and golf??!? It was very fortunate for him that this was hopefully all a hoax.
September 23, 2007 at 1:54 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
caesar156 (anonymous) says...
Fortunately it was a hoax and through this event, one of the greatest risks to College of Charleston's security measures has become clear: President Benson. Hopefully it will be dealt with by the administration in a timely manner.
September 23, 2007 at 2:07 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kiawahdeb (anonymous) says...
this story really didn't make much news, but the same day, there was 10 bomb threats in a NJ school. at least they shut the schools and in a non related story a school bus went on fire and the driver escaped from the bus that was totally burned from the front engine all the way to the last seat in the bus, it was said to be an "engine fire". the funny part, the bus wasn't missing, didn't belong to any company and when the press asked questions about where the bus came from they were told, "case closed".
so, hoax or no hoax, we are not prepared with an plan if there is and emergency. we are not informed. we are keep in the dark and we still just bury our heads in the sand.
i don't know why everyone thinks its a hoax. prove it.
by the way, gas is combustible. i don't know where you get your information about it being disproven that cell phones can't set off an explosion at the gas tanks. last time i looked its still on the pumps.
an by the way fertilizer took down the oklahoma city bombing. who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.
another note, the president should never have left his post. the captain stays with the ship, otherwise he should not be in charge. maybe he is a PR man, but he is not a commander.
there were to many incidents regarding school incidents on friday around the whole country, why were all the stories buried? whats really going on? i guess they were all hoaxes too.
September 23, 2007 at 10:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kiawahdeb (anonymous) says...
just look at this clip of news about terrorism, schools, buses and childrens lives at stake. its an interesting piece of news all told to the public in fragments that everything is left unconnected, but that aren't. i think you will find this news where you won't think fridays incident was told to be a hoax, but a test as to see how we response. copy paste put in your tool bar and get informed PS, i'm sorry, but there is a commercial ad that you have to view first, but the news subject is called-the perfect day, its a glen beck story from CNN
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/best...
September 23, 2007 at 10:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
caesar156 (anonymous) says...
Thanks kiawahdeb for helping us connect the dots. It's been a while since we've seen strong investigative reports from our local journalists on real, substantive issues that affect the community. I've seen a very disturbing trend in our state newspapers that downplay many of the "negative" stories in place of more upbeat and, very often, pro-business/pro-tourism news. Certainly in this day and age I can sympathize with those who are weary of reading the latest killing in North Charleston or meth-lab bust in a residential neighborhood or terrorist bombing in Baghdad.
However, there's a difference between simply reporting the news and uncovering news. Our newspapers owe it to the community to provide follow-up and meaningful analysis of what is being done by local leaders and law enforcement, etc. to change the status quo so we're not all simply muddling through, unprotected and blind to the now incontrovertible truth that our community is playing host to homegrown terrorism.
We don't need a story divulging all of our latest security gaps. Far from it- we need stories that pressure our town councils and mayors to start focusing resources and time on issues outside of economic development and the milking of another square mile of land to build one more neighborhood or Google/BMW plant. This isn't anti-business- it's common sense- protecting the investments and livelihood of citizens that already exist from future terrorism is the best insurance for long term development and growth. How strong is cooperation and communication between law enforcement agencies and our schools, businesses and is there an effective, updated plan to be put in motion if that bomb on C of C campus last week was a lethal airborne disease? Reading eye-witness reports above from students who were there still wandering around it is very doubtful local law enforcement could have contained the illness very effectively.
Just a few thoughts from a concerned citizen?
September 29, 2007 at 12:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
caesar156 (anonymous) says...
Thanks kiawahdeb for helping us connect the dots. It's been a while since we've seen strong investigative reports from our local journalists on real, substantive issues that affect the community. I've seen a very disturbing trend in our state newspapers that downplay many of the "negative" stories in place of more upbeat and, very often, pro-business/pro-tourism news. Certainly in this day and age I can sympathize with those who are weary of reading the latest killing in North Charleston or meth-lab bust in a residential neighborhood or terrorist bombing in Baghdad.
However, there's a difference between simply reporting the news and uncovering news. Our newspapers owe it to the community to provide follow-up and meaningful analysis of what is being done by local leaders and law enforcement, etc. to change the status quo so we're not all simply muddling through, unprotected and blind to the now incontrovertible truth that our community is playing host to homegrown terrorism.
We don't need a story divulging all of our latest security gaps. Far from it- we need stories that pressure our town councils and mayors to start focusing resources and time on issues outside of economic development and the milking of another square mile of land to build one more neighborhood or Google/BMW plant. This isn't anti-business- it's common sense- protecting the investments and livelihood of citizens that already exist from future terrorism is the best insurance for long term development and growth. How strong is cooperation and communication between law enforcement agencies and our schools, businesses and is there an effective, updated plan to be put in motion if that bomb on C of C campus last week was a lethal airborne disease? Reading eye-witness reports above from students who were there still wandering around it is very doubtful local law enforcement could have contained the illness very effectively.
Just a few thoughts from a concerned citizen....
September 29, 2007 at 1 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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