After FSU shooting, Florida universities to assess campus security, lockdown drills

The state panel that oversees Florida's public universities is asking them to review their security measures this summer in response to the mass shooting that happened on the Florida State University campus in April.

While on lockdown during the shooting, many FSU students and teachers said they attempted to secure the doors to their classrooms but could not lock them from the inside.

A change.org online petition titled "LOCKS ON ALL CLASSROOM DOORS" began circling the web hours after the tragic shooting. It has drawn more than 32,000 signatures.

"No one should have to be in a classroom feeling unprotected during what was the most terrifying moment of our lives," the organizer of the petition, an FSU student, wrote. "This is a basic safety measure that can no longer be overlooked."

One student recounted how during the campuswide lockdown, she watched her TAs struggle to lock the doors before giving up and shutting off the lights.

"I watched as 50 of us sat in the dark, with nothing to barricade our unlocked doors. 50 chairs, bolted to the ground. 50 people worth of tables, bolted to the ground. An extra large podium, bolted to the ground," she wrote. "We sat and we waited for two hours, jumping every time the AC clicked on and the doors creaked. When an employee entered through our unlocked doors, we held our breaths, waiting for the worst to come. Luckily for us, it did not."

At a Florida Board of Governors meeting on May 15, State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues said presidents of each state university were asked to work with their staff to assess campus safety and the ability to hold a lockdown drill.

Specifically, the questions to be addressed are: Can classroom doors be locked from the inside? And, if there are windows in those doors, can they be covered or otherwise protected?

The universities will share their best practices at a safety summit to be held in October, Rodrigues said, to identify any common concerns or improvements needed. He praised FSU police for their swift response and called it "nothing short of amazing."

"This could have been a much, much worse tragedy than it was. It's obviously tragic to have students shot and to have any loss of life, but the quick response of the FSU campus police prevented this from being much, much, much worse than it could have been," Rodrigues said.

A grand jury indicted Phoenix Ikner, 20, with two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder, which includes two people he allegedly fired at but missed during the April 17 rampage on FSU campus.

Ikner, who was "neutralized" three minutes and three seconds into his attack by FSU police, was arrested by the Tallahassee Police Department and booked into the Wakulla County Detention Facility; his stepmother is a Leon County sheriff's deputy.

FSU: Some doors in classroom buildings lock, but only on outside

An FSU spokesperson has said that classroom doors in the HCB building, near the student union where two were killed, did automatically lock, but from the outside.

"During a lockdown situation, like on April 17, doors in the HCB Building lock immediately as they are part of our electronic locking system that is centrally managed," FSU spokesperson Amy Farnum-Patronis told CNN.

Robert Morales, 57, an FSU dining coordinator, and Tiru Chabba, 45, an executive from Aramark, were shot and killed, and five other students were shot and injured. Those victims were discharged from the hospital five days later, Rodrigues said.

FSU-affiliated colleagues of the board did not attend the meeting May 15 because they were in another board meeting, said BOG chair Brian Lamb. He asked the board to continue to support FSU President Richard McCullough and the university community.

"It's important," Lamb said. "Our friends, in many ways, are still grieving, and we need to be supportive of them through difficult times."

Ana Goñi-Lessan, state watchdog reporter for the USA TODAY Network – Florida, can be reached at  agonilessan@gannett.com .

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: After FSU shooting, Florida universities to look at campus security