WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | Families of WKU students talk of their initial panic about campus alert

Families of WKU students talk of their initial panic about campus alert

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - The security scare left parents and grandparents with students at Western Kentucky University reaching for the phone to get in touch with their kids as soon as possible. Most tell WAVE 3 they just wanted to know their student was safe. WAVE 3's Lindsay English spoke with some of those parents and has their reaction.

When news of a possible gunman on the WKU campus started to spread, parents say they feared the worst.

"It went immediately to Virginia Tech and especially since I hadn't heard from her at that point," said Barbara Saive, the mother of a senior Western student.

"It's a very bad feeling when you don't know what's going on and your son is right there," said Kellie Hatchett-Johnson, mother of a WKU freshman.

"Terrible stories and that's the first thing you think of and we were terribly concerned," said Beverly Ogburn, whose grandson attends Western.

Saive says all she wanted was to hear her daughter was okay. A flurry of texting and cell phone calls from students on lockdown made dialing out difficult.

"The call finally went through. Actually, she was able to call me directly. She got a phone call out and you could hear the students in the background and they were all trying to support each other and she just said that she was fine," said Saive, who also says she was relieved to hear everyone was staying put until the situation was resolved. "Especially from a parent's perspective, to at least know they were safe. They weren't out walking around was the main point."

Ogburn says her grandson's parents were out of town and desperate for information.

"We were rather panicky until we were relieved to get information later on in the afternoon," Ogburn said.

Hatchett-Johnson says her son signed up to receive text alerts from the school, but he did not get one Wednesday.

"He told me that only one of his friends, which is many there, had gotten the text message. So I'm not sure what happened, but I'll be finding out why he didn't get the text message," says Hatchett-Johnson.

Even though her son was shaken by all the activity, overall Johnson believes the school handled the situation well.

"I'm just grateful all the children, the students were okay and the staff as well. And I still do have my trust in Western Kentucky University," says Hatchett-Johnson.