More than 350 people were evacuated from the Memorial Union on Thursday night after two separate threats were phoned in to ASU and Tempe police.
The threats — a shooting threat received by ASU police and a bomb threat received by Tempe police — were made at two separate times.
The students, including a large group attending an event put on by the Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, were evacuated at 7:56 p.m., when building managers set off the fire alarm because of the calls.
The ASU Police Department received an anonymous 911 call at 6:30 p.m.; the caller said his friend was going to open fire at the fraternity’s Meet the Greeks event, ASU Police Cmdr. Jim Hardina said.
After the first call, ASU police contacted MU management and determined the threat wasn’t credible, he said.
Tempe police received a bomb threat at 7:30 p.m.; the caller said a bomb would go off in the union at 8 p.m., Hardina said.
At 7:50 p.m., Lambda Theta Phi President James Randall and Vice President Marcos Valdez were alerted to the threat by ASU police officers.
ASU police directed occupants out of the building. Many students said they were not even aware of what was going on.
“Hopefully it was just a threat, but you can never be too sure,” University spokeswoman Julie Newberg said.
Hardina said police didn’t believe the shooting threat was credible.
“But a threat is a threat,” Hardina said.
ASU’s text-messaging alert system was not utilized because it was unnecessary, Hardina said.
“Everyone who needed to know about the situation was in the building at the time,” he said.
The MU was closed for the evening after the evacuation. The building was searched, and nothing unusual was found. A Mesa police helicopter flew overhead with a spotlight.
Randall said he would not speculate about the nature or motivation of the threats.
“We don’t want to make assumptions,” Randall said. “We’re going to wait for the real facts.”
After the evacuation, one of the groups scheduled to perform at Meet the Greeks put on an impromptu performance on the outdoor stage on the north side of the MU.
“There was such a good vibe that we could [go on] even without the music,” said Michael Trejo, a friend of Randall and Valdez who was in attendance.
Any personal items left inside the building during the evacuation can be obtained from the MU information desk Friday morning, Hardina said.
Reach the reporters at tessa.muggeridge@asu.edu and derek.quizon@asu.edu.
