By Theodore Geigle
The Scene staff
A lockdown at Forest Park on Oct. 24 was prompted by a 27-year-old man in the parking lot who told his girlfriend he was going to commit “suicide by cop” during a domestic dispute.
St. Louis Community College officials sent emergency notifications via text, email and desktop shortly after 8:30 a.m. They instructed people on campus to “shelter in place” and warned others to stay away.
“We issued a lockdown immediately upon getting notice of the suspect,” Forest Park commander Lt. David Berryman said.
The man was reportedly armed with a handgun, according to a notice emailed later in the day by Al Adkins, STLCC director of public safety and emergency management.
Coincidentally, the lockdown occurred the same morning that a former student at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis fatally shot two people and injured seven others before he was killed by police on that campus.
Adkins announced that there was no relationship between the high-school shooting and Forest Park’s lockdown.
In an statement emailed on Oct. 25, Chancellor Jeff Pittman expressed sympathy for the high school victims.
“I want to assure you that the safety and security of our students, faculty and staff is our highest priority,” he wrote. “STLCC Police are dedicated to providing a safe and welcoming environment across the district.
“Writing a note such as this is hard, but necessary. Gun violence is the last thing we want to think about when sending our children to school, going to work or going about our daily lives, yet it’s a difficult reality.”
During the Forest Park lockdown, students, faculty and staff locked classroom and office doors, turned off lights and stayed put for about an hour before being cleared to resume normal activities.
In the library, staff directed students to back rooms, according to The Scene staff member Cristian Romero, who was studying. At first, they thought it was an active-shooter drill.
“Everyone was just on their phones, minding their business,” Romero said. “But as the seconds turned into minutes, then an hour creeped by, the realization set in that for once it was not a drill.”
Other students reacted to the lockdown in different ways.
“It made me feel afraid, so I coped with comedy,” said general transfer student Courtland Rogers, 18. “At first, I didn’t think it was real, until I saw this (expletive) police officer what felt like an hour later.”
“It made me feel sad,” said criminal justice major Tae Jackson, 19. “I was confused and scared. I feel like the people who handle mental health didn’t help enough, and a lot of school shooters are that way.”
The series of events that prompted the lockdown began when a couple who lived nearby had a domestic dispute while driving and stopped in Forest Park’s Parking Lot F, according to Berryman.
That’s when the man apparently threatened to harm himself.
“Suicide by cop means that the individual is going to get into an armed altercation with the police and die,” Berryman said.
The girlfriend exited the vehicle and reported the threat to St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, whose officers joined STLCC police on campus to investigate.
The girlfriend then used her cellphone to check the couple’s personal security cameras, saw that the suspect had returned home and showed the footage to police, according to Berryman.
The man wasn’t arrested or charged, he said.
Forest Park student Maquil An’Noor, 16, who plans to major in law, was unhappy with the way that STLCC officials handled the lockdown.
“It’s ridiculous that they sent an email,” he said. “I didn’t see a text even. There weren’t any alarms or anything. Someone from Campus Life told us what was going on.”
Graphic design major Demarkus Smith, 18, also had concerns.
“It really caught me off guard and made me concerned about the safety of this school,” he said. “And they didn’t give us directions.”
Berryman noted that emergency drills are held on the Forest Park campus three times a year to get students, faculty and staff familiar with procedures.
Students are automatically signed up for text alerts when they enroll at STLCC, and they have to opt out if they want to stop receiving them.
“Every system has faults,” Berryman said. “I’m not saying the complaints are unfounded because there’s always room for improvements. But our methods are tried and true.”
In his emailed statement, Pittman reminded the campus community about STLCC services to help them cope with fear and trauma, including an Employee Assistance Program. Students also can arrange for counseling at 314-539-5151 or counseling@stlcc.edu.