In the first test of new emergency-alert systems at Baltimore-area campuses, the College of Notre Dame activated its text messages this weekend to warn students about a man wanted for trying to abduct a student.
But some students who signed up for the messages said they didn?t receive them.
More than a dozen colleges in the Baltimore region installed text alerts this year after the Virginia Tech massacre to help get the word out during emergencies.
More than 300 of Notre Dame?s 3,300 students signed up for the e2Campus service, unveiled this month. But some students, including Elizabeth Gmaz, a junior graphic design major, and Estrella Torres, a freshman English major, said they didn?t receive them.
“I?m very upset she didn?t receive the message,” said Torres? mother, Evelyn. “Thank God she was with her roommate, who told her about it.”
School Security Director Jim Mitchell heard from two or three students who didn?t receive the alerts and attributed the lack of communication to students not following all the steps to sign up online, school spokeswoman Theresa Wiseman said.
Police combed the all-female Catholic school Saturday night after someone called to report that a man had trespassed on campus and attempted to abduct a student, Baltimore police spokesman Donny Moses said.
The victim also told investigators the suspect was wanted for a robbery off-campus, but further details were unavailable Monday, he said.
Campus security officers declined to comment on the incident but acknowledged the suspect was a black man pictured on a flier on their office wall. The flier identified him as Christopher Lee Roberts, 24, who stands 5 feet 9 inches and weighs 175 pounds.
Authorities would not comment on whether Roberts had been arrested,but court records show he is on probation for an assault last year.
Many students had gone home for the holiday weekend, leaving an estimated 30 of Meletia Hall?s 150 occupants on campus, Wiseman said.
The first message went out just before 10 p.m. and told students about a “possible intruder” and to “shelter in place until further notice.”
Nearly an hour later, officials sent out a second text to tell students police were searching Meletia Hall.
A third message at 12:30 a.m. Sunday told students the campus was clear.
