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Campus Lock Down By Rubi Reyes |
 Clavens Charles / The South Texan The campus of Texas A&M University-Kingsville was on lock-down on Wednesday, April 16 after a 1998 Chevrolet pickup carrying a dozen suspected illegal immigrants were pulled over for speeding on State Highway 141 just outside of Kingsville |
A routine traffic stop on Wednesday afternoon led to a three-hour campus lock-down.
At approximately 3 p.m. a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper stopped a 1998 Chevrolet pickup carrying a dozen suspected illegal immigrants for speeding on State Highway 141 just outside of Kingsville.
Dan Doty spokesman for Rio Grande Valley Sector of U.S. Border Patrol confirmed the driver pulled over and about 12 people got out of the truck and ran.
He said the driver a U.S. citizen said he was forced at gunpoint to drive the truckload of illegal immigrants to Kingsville.
The Department of Public Safety informed Texas A&M University-Kingsville of suspected gunman shortly after 3 p.m. said Frank Ureno Associate Vice President and Dean of Students.
“We have alerted all the buildings and the entire campus has been put on lockdown,” Ureno said.
Students, faculty and staff received phone calls and e-mails from the university’s emergency notification system, which automatically sends e-mails and voice messages to the campus community.
“Some received notice of the lockdown late and some not at all,” President Rumaldo Juarez said. “We are looking into these issues so that they will be taken care of.”
It took almost 30 minutes for some students to receive the message.
“I think we should have been informed a lot sooner,” said Ricardo Guerra freshman music education major. “It’s kind of freaky, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
Students were allowed to enter buildings, but were not allowed to leave. Students that were outside were forced to enter the nearest building.
“I was about to pick up some papers for work when I was told to stay in the building,” Florentino Sosa, junior International Business Management major said. “It’s a bit freaky what was happening, but I was a little more worried about the students still wandering outside.”
Five of the 12 illegal immigrants were captured about 6 p.m. At 6:15 p.m. the lockdown was lifted and a university e-mail stated a man with a gun and several other unarmed men were captured.
“None of the men captured had a weapon on them,” said Doty.
No one was injured.
Ben Damian / Special to The South Texan
Area officials covered the area searching for the suspected illegal immigrants