TAMU Shootings: My Experience

It was during the fall semester of 2010 when I was working as a student worker at the TransTexas Videoconference Network at Texas A&M University in College Station, TX that I had my first experience with a suspected shooter in public. I was sitting at my desk, checking television logs for the PBS station that was broadcasted from our building when my boss stormed out of his door and commanded, "Everyone stay put in this room." Simultaneously, I strange alarm with a tone I've never heard rang out menacingly as about four people were left in the room with me oblivious to what was happening outside. 

Pictured here, the room I worked in and was locked down in at the time of suspected shooter fall 2010 (I look so young ((I still do))):

Within about ten minutes, text messages had come in from all three of my roommates asking me if I was safe, where I was, and if I could get back to our townhome. There was a report of a male student with a gun around the school bus unloading zone just down the street from the building I worked at. If I stepped outside of my building and looked down the street, who knows what I would have seen. I could hear screams and frantic running but we didn't open our doors - we were completely locked down in the room where all of our broadcast monitors were located. I remember texting my mother and sister telling them I was safe and waiting to hear more news...

Let's not forget to celebrate the good things that come from one of the largest universities in out state: Did you know that Texas A&M sent the most Olympians to the London 2012 Games than any other university in Texas?

Luckily, there was no gunman that day. The bus driver who reported the suspect confused the mock rifle the student was holding with a real gun. Although SWAT and local police were swarming the area, they were utilized more for crowd control than anything. Sadly, this was not the case when police responded to Texas A&M last week and law enforcement officers lost their lives. I am completely empathetic with my Aggie family because I know what that feeling feels like - especially to be so close to the scene. But the Spirit of Aggieland will return to normal, things will get better!