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Fourth Lock Down At Casper College In Two Years

Casper College

Casper College found itself on lock-down again this week when students discovered a plastic tube with nails in the Union. Casper police evacuated the campus but later said it was a false alarm. The item turned out to be an art project. It’s the fourth false alarm to lead to a lock-down on the campus since a professor was shot with an arrow by his son in 2012. Police Captain Steve Freel says the high number of evacuations are part of a new protocol between police and campus security about how to handle such emergencies.

I just want the public to know that Casper College is probably the safest it's ever been.

“It seems like there’s quite a bit going on up there,” Freel says, “but I just want the public to know that Casper College is probably the safest it’s ever been. And we just are handling things different. You have events that took place two years ago. I think that was a wake-up call for the community and for Casper College itself.”

Other false alarms that led to campus lock downs include reports of LSD-laced bread, the sighting of a gunman that was never found, a gun image posted on social media and, last month, a bomb threat at a basketball game.

Melodie Edwards is the host and producer of WPM's award-winning podcast The Modern West. Her Ghost Town(ing) series looks at rural despair and resilience through the lens of her hometown of Walden, Colorado. She has been a radio reporter at WPM since 2013, covering topics from wildlife to Native American issues to agriculture.
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