Ferrum College student describes moment siren went off

Danville Register & Bee
Published: February 26, 2008

Ferrum College Junior Kelly Ingram said she was heading to class Tuesday morning when she stopped by the cafeteria.

The school’s emergency siren went off and students locked themselves in a room and closed the blinds, she said. They were there for about four hours.

“The focus was on getting people inside,” said Ingram, daughter of Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Vic Ingram.

Students weren’t sure what was going on at first until college officials sent out text messages about the situation, Kelly Ingram said.

Police officers went through dorms one room at a time, taking students to the college’s gym and locking them inside, where they are waiting to be released, the student said during a telephone interview earlier this afternoon.

Ingram said the conditions are a little cramped and some of the students look like they just rolled out of bed.

The students have been fed and about 20 to 30 faculty members are with them, she said.

“Everybody is pretty much tired of being locked in the gym,” Ingram said.