Northern Arizona University campus shooting: Student alert failure blamed on human error

Only 700 students received the initial text alerts after an on-campus shooting at Northern Arizona University early Friday morning, and officials are citing human error for this lack of notification.

NAU officials said the initial messages were distributed by a single dispatcher who was also managing the developing situation. The dispatcher was juggling multiple, simultaneous 911 calls and communicating with the officers responding to the scene, according to campus officials.

The residence-hall director at Mountain View Hall, which houses many of the campus’ fraternities and sororities, was one of the 700 people who received the alert at 1:24 a.m.

Police say the director verified the incident and then activated the public address system within minutes, telling all Mountain View residents to stay inside and lock their doors.

Officials say the NAU police officers were notified at 1:20 a.m. of shots fired on north campus, and only two minutes later the suspect was detained and the situation was secured.

NAU officials say the notification error was not discovered until well after the scene was secured, and that’s when updates were sent to the entire campus community. An "all clear" notification was sent at 2:52 a.m.

NAU Alert is an opt-in text-notification system.

Ana Valdez, a 20-year-old from Southern California, said she was awakened about 4 a.m. by family members who had heard about the shooting and wanted to make sure she was not involved.

“This is not something that happens here. We’re a really close-knit community. Everyone is just shocked and speechless,” Valdez said.

NAU Police Chief Greg Fowler said the shootings were preceded by a confrontation between two “student groups,” during which a freshman he identified as 18-year-old Steven Jones took out a gun and fired multiple shots, striking four people.

School administrators identified the wounded as Nicholas Prato, Kyle Zienek and Nicholas Piring and the deceased student as Colin Brough.