Moments ago the University of Texas at Austin issued an evacuation order. According to a statement on the university’s official web site, “Evacuation due to threats on campus. Immediately evacuate ALL buildings and get as far away as possible. More information to come.”
Fox News reports that a man with a Middle Eastern accent phoned the school, claiming to be affiliated with al Qaeda. He claimed to have placed multiple bombs on the campus. The call came in at about 8:35 this morning, and the man said the bombs would go off about 90 minutes later. We have passed that point now.
Update: A reporter for local CBS affiliate KEYE TV reports from just off campus, that police are starting to direct students out of buildings and off campus. Students, according to the reporter, are mostly ducking from today’s rain and joking that thanks to the evacuation they have a free day on Friday.
Update: Cap-Metro buses have been sent away from the campus.
Update: Follow on-the-scene reactions on Twitter at #utbombthreat.
Update: North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND has also been evacuated today in relation to a bomb threat.
A bomb threat has prompted a complete evacuation Friday morning of North Dakota State University in Fargo, campus police announced in an emergency alert.
“NDSU is requiring all employees and students to leave campus by 10:15 a.m.,” the alert reads. “This includes residence hall students, who, if necessary, should walk to locations off campus.”
The alert added that the evacuation also covers the school’s downtown buildings and agricultural facilities.
The alert gave no details about the bomb threat, adding that more information would be released later.
Update: Students and faculty continue to mill around just off campus in Austin. Classes have been cancelled for the day. Big question for students who live on campus is, when can they go home? Meanwhile, the local affiliate has cut away from its coverage and gone back to scheduled programming, The Price is Right.
Update: According to the AP, UT officials say that no bombs have been found so far.
Update: The UT-Austin threat deadline passed about 20 minutes ago. The local TV affiliates have dipped in and out of coverage, but as they don’t have much to report they’re resorting to lots of empty chatter and checks on Twitter. The #utbombthreat hashtag is trending worldwide.
Update: The UTPD is reportedly still sweeping the buildings on campus for any bombs. The campus itself is enormous, covering a large slice of downtown Austin. The sweep is likely to take a while.
Update: I’ll be on America’s Radio News shortly to discuss the threat. Drudge just reported that a third university has been threatened today, Valparaiso.
Update 11:17 central: UT has decided to resume operations, may resume afternoon classes. The FBI remains on campus investigating.
AQ doesn’t warn. This is fake.
Most likely.
Right, snork. Why would al-Qaeda want to stop the daily indoctrination?
It would be like the Democrats threatening to blow up news media buildings.
In other news, the Saleftists have stormed a German embassy because they didn’t like Das Boot, or something Angela Merkl did or said, or the Danish Cartoons being honored in Germany or they ran out of Preparation H or something.
Anyway, it’s all Mitt Romney’s fault. He committed another gaffe today. He’s not up yet, but the American Media will backfill the story once he does.
Das Boot? No, they’re still pissed about the main character of Rammbock being a furry. Between a horde of zombies and a furry, who do you cheer?
Even if it’s not Al-Q, doesn’t mean there’s no bomb. Oter groups have used Al-Q as a smokescreen before (anything Al-Qaeda gets media attention).
They could be just some jerks messing with the schools because they can. They may or may not be A-Q sympathizers; they may not even be Arabic, Pakistani or Iranian (accents can be faked).
Can the call be traced?
Very good question. If it turns out to be a VOIP call through a proxy net, that might shine some light on things, too.
You can bet the puke who made the call is now sweating blood wondering how long it will take a Texas Ranger to find him.
And if these Islamists think because we have a luguini spines president who will not take actions against them no matter what they do, I highly recommend they don’t try that in Texas. The new rallying cry will be:
REMEMBER FORT HOOD
re: Zane @2 Damn Straight!
Good thing he was specific and said it was on the university grounds, otherwise they’d have to evacuate all of Texas.
/justsayin
Good luck with that…
Friendly request to Bryan Preston: In future, could you timestamp your updates? Right now, it is impossible to determine which are the newest and which are the oldest. It’s not even obvious that they are in chronologic order, either oldest to newest or newest to oldest….
Updates are in chronological order.
Breaking update: Austin,TX 11:25 CDT.
Football players find unknown white powdery substance on practice field. Coach Mack Brown immediately suspended practice while police and federal investigators were called to investigate.
After a complete analysis, FBI forensic experts determined that the white substance, unknown to the UT players, was the goal line.
Practice was resumed after special agents decided the team was unlikely to encounter the substance.
LOL
Update 11:17 central: UT has decided to resume operations, may resume afternoon classes. The FBI remains on campus investigating.
This hasn’t been posted on the UT webpage. Please wait for official announcement.
FYI: The evacuation proceeded calmly and efficiently, as far as I could see.
Campus Carry anyone?
Back in 1966 the first responders to the Texas Tower shooter came from students who went to their dorms and pulled out their hunting rifles. One student gave covering fire to police in their final assault.
If AQ did come to down to do a Mumbai style attack they would be in for a rude surprise if the students were allowed to keep their firearms on campus. You can bet that there are many students at UT and NDSU who could handle firearms and any such terror attack would face heavy opposition.
Fortunately my son goes to Colorado State where open and concealed carry are permitted as per Colorado Law. You can bet the next mass shooter won’t be showing up in Fort Collins.