4 NEWS
SANTA ANA COLLEGE el Don/eldonnews.org • MONDAY, MARCH 28, 2016
NEWS ANALYSIS
OFFICIALS DROP LINE ON CAMPUS SAFETY
INCIDENT TIMELINE
On March 19, Communication Professor Vera Holder
called Santa Ana Police
Department after campus
security failed to respond.
2:15 PM
Estimated time of the arrival
of six of the nine students
with whom Professor
Holder was working in
room C-207 and C-208.
Walking between
classrooms and her
office, she notices a man
wandering the second floor.
The man takes a seat at the
front table in C-208 and
begins writing a note. He
abruptly leaves.
Holder scans the
note and two words
stand out: “shoot” and
“head.”
Holder locks all nine
students in room C-207-3,
a faculty office, and dials
campus security twice.
CAUGHT / Police arrest a forgery suspect after chasing him through Santa Ana College’s main campus Tuesday. / Jorge Campos / el Don
W
BY JORGE CAMPOS / el Don
hen a suspicious man entered a classroom occupied by
students March 19, and left a threatening note with the
words “shoot” and “head” in it, Communication Professor Vera Holder called Santa Ana College’s campus
safety office.
No one answered. Holder again dialed the safety office’s number
from the extension line inside another professor’s office. Her call
was forwarded to an automatic voice mail. She remembered an
old number and tried it.
Her fear for her students’ safety amplified
every time her call went unanswered.
While waiting for a response, Holder
herded nine students inside a classroom
and locked the door.
She dialed 911.
The dispatcher asked Holder where
campus safety officers were. Despite multiple calls, they haven’t responded, Holder
said.
Minutes later, SAPD arrived. After
questioning Holder and some of the students, the police concluded that the man
was not a credible threat.
But that wasn’t the issue for Holder and
her students. It was larger than that.
Already on heightened alert after nine
victims were killed by a gunman at a
community college in Oregon last year,
Holder did the one thing Campus Safety
officials told her to do: if you see something, say something.
SAC is in the middle of a city where
there have been 70 reported shootings
since January. Holder and her students
were dealing with a potentially deadly
scenario without help.
But college safety officials were quick to
downplay the incident.
“No direct threats were made to anyone
on campus,” Safety and Security Chief
Alistair Winter said. SAC Campus Safety
Chief Lt. Michael Colver echoed his superior’s comments saying the campus is safe.
“Based on call logs and incident reports
Santa Ana College continues to be a safe
campus,” SAC President Erlinda Martinez
said.
The events just days after the Saturday
incident tell a different story.
On Tuesday, a helicopter circled the east
and central parts of campus. SAPD was
searching for what they claimed was an
unarmed suspect wanted for the use of
counterfeit currency, Public Information
Officer Anthony Bertagna said.
Minutes later, the man w