Blue Ridge Community College lockdown lifted, 'computer error' at fault
Update 3:48 p.m.
WEYERS CAVE – Blue Ridge Community College’s two brief lockdowns have been lifted.
The Augusta County Board of Supervisors policy retreat was in full swing on the campus when the lockdown was announced. The News Leader was in attendance.
Around 2:30 p.m., the board dismissed their security officer, John Craft with the Augusta County Sheriff's Office, allowing him to go to another meeting as the retreat approached its end. He left the meeting and campus shortly after.
Not long after, a Blue Ridge staff member entered the room, closed the windows, and told the supervisors the campus was on lockdown. They did not have further information at the time. The supervisors continued discussing county policy, closure of Augusta Correctional Center in Craigsville specifically.
Around 2:50 p.m., a voice came over the intercom, saying, "Good afternoon. All clear. The notification appears to be a computer malfunction. We are trying to investigate, but as of now there is no imminent threat on campus. All clear."
Craft re-entered the room a few minutes later, saying he was going to speak to college officials to find out what was going on. He returned at 3:06 p.m.
“I’ll give an update, everybody is wondering, right?” Craft said. “When anything happens, an automatically generated lockdown goes out. They immediately can see where it originated from. That’s absent. They have no idea where it came from.”
Craft did a walk through, spoke with Augusta Sheriff Donald Smith, and spoke the college's administration.“As I’m walking through, policing it, they lock it back down, which immediately makes me worried,” Craft said. “The reason [the school] locked it back down is because they saw me come back, so they assumed something was happening. They waited to make sure I took care of what was happening, which was, in fact, the thing that wasn’t happening.”
The room erupted in the supervisors’ laughter.
“We’re all in good shape, everything is clear,” Craft said. “Everyone is safe.”
This was confirmed with a post from Blue Ridge Community College’s Facebook page at 3:11 p.m.
“Thank you for sheltering in place while we investigated the source of the lockdown on campus,” reads the post. “No threat of danger has been identified. The lockdown appears to have been initiated via system malfunction. We apologize for the inconvenience. ALL CLEAR to resume normal activity."
Augusta County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeffrey Slaven told The News Leader he'd still like more information on what happened, but the immediate response when a potential threat was raised was compliment to the college's security.
Update 3:15 p.m.
WEYERS CAVE – Around 3 p.m., a voice came over the intercom, saying, "Good afternoon. All clear. The notification appears to be a computer malfunction. We are trying to investigate, but as of now there is no imminent threat on campus. All clear."
Original story, 2:45 p.m.
WEYERS CAVE – Blue Ridge Community College is locked down on Friday, around 2:45 p.m.
According to staff, the college is on lockdown, but no further information is available at this time.
The Augusta County Board of Supervisors retreat was ongoing on campus when staff walked in and notified the board.
This is an evolving story and The News Leader will report as more information is available.
Lyra Bordelon (she/her) is the public transparency and justice reporter at The News Leader. Do you have a story tip or feedback? It’s welcome through email to lbordelon@gannett.com. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Blue Ridge Community College lockdown lifted, 'computer error' at fault
