Dallas Baptist University (DBU) was evacuated following threats prior to a visit from Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner and Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson.
Officials have since declared an “all clear.”
DBU students and staff evacuated the morning of January 22, citing “unverified threats” just hours before an event with Turner and Johnson, following a string of threats across the metroplex – some linked to an online extremist group, as The Dallas Express reported.
“We have been made aware of several unverified threats involving the campus,” DBU President Adam Wright emailed students at 9:17 a.m. “Out of an extreme abundance of caution, we have made the decision to evacuate the campus so that we can determine the legitimacy of these unverified threats.”
DBU officials alerted students at 1:51 p.m. that the campus was “all clear,” with facilities reopening in the evening and classes resuming January 23.
At the time of the evacuation, there was no confirmed “immediate danger,” and the school was working with law enforcement to ensure safety, according to Wright.
If students have an emergency or if they see anything suspicious, he asked them to call DBU Police at 214-333-5555.
“The safety and well-being of our students, faculty, and staff remain our highest priority,” Wright wrote.
DBU Freshman Shane Seafoss told The Dallas Express he was walking to class when a friend told him everyone needed to leave.
“My body kind of went cold. I was like, ‘Wait, what happened?’ She’s like, ‘Look at your email,’” he said. “They were calling for an immediate evacuation.”
Students began heading for their cars, according to Seafoss.
“It was insane. I’ve never seen so many people walking in one direction,” he said. “We’re all running to our cars, and didn’t have time to get anything.”
Meanwhile, first responders lined the parking lot of Pilgrim Chapel with “all these heavy-duty vehicles,” according to Seafoss, thinking that a bomb squad responded.
Seafoss said he was unsure who the threats specifically targeted, or if they pertained to the event with Turner and Johnson, but he did applaud DBU officials for their efficiency in “making sure that all of us were safe and off the campus.”
The school offered shuttle buses to help students get off campus.
The Dallas Express reached out to Johnson’s office, but did not hear back in time for publication.
The same morning, Wiley University in East Texas went on lockdown after a “credible” online threat, as KLTV reported. The school resumed classes at noon.
Masked suspects threatened Texas schools online earlier this month, as The Dallas Express reported. Days later, officers with the Fort Worth Police Department arrested alleged arsonist Evan Banda for terrorism, claiming ties to the “violent extremist hate organization” behind the threats. DX confirmed this group was the Ukrainian “accelerationist” group MKY, under the online “nihilistic violent extremist” network 764.
Since then, numerous locations across the metroplex have been receiving threats, as The Dallas Express reported. Frisco ISD closed campuses twice the week of January 12 for online threats, and a Walmart across from AT&T Stadium closed down January 17 for a false bomb threat.
At the time of publication, it was unclear if any of these incidents were connected.