Politics & Government

Sosnowski, Lally Praise URI First Responders

V. Susan Sosnowski and Donald Lally praise first responders for their actions at URI on Thursday.

Release courtesy the Legislative Press Bureau.

Rep. Donald J. Lally and Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski, both of whose districts include University of Rhode Island’s Kingston campus, applauded URI and local emergency responders on Friday for their swift and thorough response to the report of a possible gunman on the campus on Thursday.

“On behalf of our community, I feel safer seeing how quickly URI’s staff and our local police, fire and rescue crews responded, and how they organized a complete investigation under chaotic circumstances while keeping citizens and students out of harm’s way. We are extremely lucky and grateful that this didn’t turn out to be a shooting, but more than any drill would have, it made me aware of how well our first responders are prepared to move quickly to prevent tragedies and save lives,” said Representative Lally (D-Dist. 33, South Kingstown, Narragansett).

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The two legislators praised the work of URI safety staff as well as that of police, fire and rescue responders from South Kingstown, Narragansett, Charlestown, Westerly, the state Police and the federal government who descended upon the university at the report that a man thought to have a gun had caused a more than 100 students to flee a lecture at the John Chafee Social Science Center.

The building was evacuated and the entire campus was locked down for several hours while officials combed the campus. No gunman or weapon was found, and there were no major injuries.

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URI used its emergency alert system at the first report of a gunman, notifying students and staff by e-mail, voice mail, text messages, Twitter, Facebook and on the university’s website.

“We are so fortunate and thankful that everyone was safe. While this was, of course, frightening, in the end it showed us that URI and our community are fully prepared to protect students, staff and our citizens if there is a threat to safety. Everyone involved, from the staff who ordered the evacuation and lockdown to the campus security and the local police, fire and rescue responders, to the students themselves, who maintained order as best they could and followed orders to evacuate or stay put for everyone’s safety, should be congratulated for their response,” said Senator Sosnowski (D-Dist. 37, South Kingstown, New Shoreham).

For an electronic version of this and all press releases published by the Legislative Press and Public Information Bureau, please visit our Web site at http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/News.


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