“It’s a suspect using a weapon in an ongoing assault, this would not be a barricaded gunman as we more commonly know from news and media,” MSU police Capt. Penny Fischer said. “This is someone in active actions of causing violence, injury and death.”

She added that these situations occur rapidly with very little warning.

One of her suggestions was for faculty and students to keep their cell phones on during classes, because if there was an emergency on campus, that’s how MSU police would let people know. Those alerts go to the phone number listed in each person’s MSU contact information.

“If you ever think about calling 9-1-1, do it,” she said. “Time is our enemy. Time is the advantage to the offender. We try to narrow those time gaps, and the way we narrow those time gaps is with you and with good education and information.”

Knowing how to evacuate a building also is important — there are maps of buildings at entry points of most buildings on campus, with more still being put up, she said.

The dissemination of information during a crisis is going to be critical, said Manuel Chavez, associate professor of journalism.

“So the question is, perhaps do we need drills?” he said. “Should the faculty go and teach or do some exercises with the students as to how to get into a situation where all of us know what to do? Honestly, I have seen this a couple of times and I’m still trying to figure out what to do.”

Fischer said it’s difficult to do drills during class time because it’s disruptive, but encouraged faculty to do drills on their own or have officers talk to classes.

Communication professor William Donohue suggested there should be address plaques inside classrooms so that if an emergency does occur, he could tell a 9-1-1 dispatcher exactly where he was.

He recalled a time when one of his students was hyperventilating and the emergency responders never came because he didn’t know the address for the Veterinary Medical Center, and they didn’t know where it was, thankfully the student stopped hyperventilating.