On Monday, USI Public Safety and the Evansville Police Department were notified about a suspicious item found near Clarke and McDonald’s Lane of the campus apartments. Multiple sheriff and Public Safety vehicles responded to the incident.
One sheriff’s car was seen blocking Clarke Lane where it crosses with O’Daniel Lane. Students speculate this to be the reason why the campus shuttles were delayed going back towards the university.
USI’s strategic communications later sent out an email at 8:04 pm discussing the incident:
“An investigation was conducted this afternoon of a suspicious bottle found by Public Safety along Clarke Lane on the USI campus,” they said. “The Evansville Police Department’s Disposal Unit was called to the scene and were able to dispose of the package safely—a clear juice bottle with liquid in it, capped and bound with black electrical tape.”
They then emphasized that dangerous items (like the one found) shouldn’t be messed or tampered with and instead be left alone and reported.
They elaborated, “Nationally, there has been a trend of homemade explosives being found.
They closed out the email alert warning students of the criminal charges for improvised/hoaxed devices, stating that creating and/or replicating with or without the intent of harm is punishable by a six month to two and a half year sentence as well as up to a $10,000 fine.
Austin Fitzgerald, second-year computer science major, was walking back to his apartment when he saw a sheriff’s car blocking his usual way home.
“I don’t know what was happening, but there was traffic leading to the roundabout and parking lots,” he said. “I came up on it and normally I walked towards the bus stop to get to the apartments but saw the cops were blocking it off. So I went by HRL to avoid it and saw the cops by the apartments [Marshall, Saletta and Hanly].”
Students went to the app ‘YikYak’ to talk about what was happening at the time, theorizing what exactly was going on.
Strategic Communications and Public Safety urge students to report unusual and suspicious activity by dialing 812-492-7777.
