False alarm: there was no man with a firearm at Utrecht Science Park

It all started on Friday at 2:00 pm. Someone called 112 and reported seeing a person with a firearm in one of the science or geography buildings at Utrecht Science Park. This person had also reported that someone was carrying a firearm to the reception desk of the Koningsberger building.

The police took the report very seriously. Officers searched the buildings and surrounding areas in various ways, reinforced by a special unit that is deployed when firearms are involved. Part of the area around the Koningsberger building was cordoned off, and public transport was halted.

The buildings were not evacuated in the same manner as they are during emergency response drills, where the alarm sounds and everyone must abandon their work or study area, leaving their belongings behind. Instead, people were allowed to stay in the buildings, but those who went outside were not allowed to go back – a procedure UU calls a 'silent evacuation'.

At half past five, students and staff were asked via the intercom to leave the Koningsberger, Minnaert, Buys Ballot, Caroline Bleeker and Ornstein buildings calmly. The buildings closed earlier than usual. The police left at around 6:00 pm, as they didn't find anyone with a weapon in any of the buildings. The area was then reopened and public transport resumed.

Home visit 
However, the police continued their search for the person with the firearm. Based on the descriptions in the report, the police tracked down a student of the Faculty of Science, whose house they visited on Sunday morning. After questioning the student, the police concluded that this person was, indeed, the one described in the report. However, they were not carrying a firearm. The police have since decided to close the case.

UU says it has followed the advice and decisions of the police, as they were in charge of the operation. Therefore, it was the police who decided that it was not necessary to evacuate the buildings immediately. As a result, lectures and other activities were not interrupted.

'We understand that colleagues and students were shocked, especially when rumours appeared in the media suggesting someone had been seen with a firearm,' says UU President Anton Pijpers on the student website and the Intranet. 'I can well imagine that this may have been a frightening experience for staff and students in the buildings concerned.’ On Monday morning, students and staff had the opportunity to talk about the events in the Koningsberger building.

A tense lecture
A survey conducted by DUB on Monday morning revealed that many students and staff who were present in the building on Friday found it strange that they had not been informed about what was going on that afternoon. Instead, they were suddenly told at half past five that the building would be closing early. At that point, it was still unclear whether there was indeed a man with a firearm in the building.

Master's student Joël was attending a seminar in the Buys Ballot building on Friday afternoon when he received text messages saying that someone had been seen walking around with a gun. The information was on news reports shortly afterwards.

When the students told their lecturer what was going on, he advised them to stay in the classroom. The seminar carried on as if nothing had happened. 'We were a bit tense because we didn't know what was going on. But everyone remained fairly calm. There was no panic.'

Joël saw the police as he walked outside shortly after five o'clock. ‘They asked me to text my classmates and tell them to come outside.’

Locked in the room
DUB met several students in the boardroom of the Chemistry study association, Proton. Last Friday, they were in the city centre for an introductory activity when they heard about the incident at Utrecht Science Park. ‘We heard that someone was still in this room, and that person had locked themselves in. We were not sure what was happening.’

According to Karl Strube, a student member of the faculty council, several students were in a state of great uncertainty for a long time on Friday. As for himself, he was walking around Utrecht Science Park with an introductory group from his Master's programme when they encountered the police blockades. He had to wait a long time because his bicycle was parked in the KGB bicycle shed. ‘People were restless because no one knew what was going on, and the bicycle parking facility and public transport were no longer accessible. Everyone just kept refreshing their Google feeds.’

Rumours
According to him, all kinds of stories were circulating that day. He heard that a group of students had been taken hostage in the Botanical Gardens. ‘It reminded me of what happened in Rotterdam.’

Some people told DUB that they didn't notice anything about the police intervention. A friend of Karl's spent the whole afternoon on the third floor of the KBG building, working on her thesis with a group of people. She only learned that something had happened when she got home. "My roommates asked me if I was at KBG.”

Other students in the Koningsberger building on Monday were not at USP on Friday, and they knew very little about what happened. DUB even had to explain the incident to an international student. 

Karl wonders whether students could have been informed earlier. He is also surprised that the university had not yet shared any updates on Monday morning.

Staff have questions about communication
Monday's meeting at the Koningsberger building was also attended by social workers and study advisers, in addition to the board members from the Faculties of Science and Earth Sciences. They were there to help anyone who wanted to talk about the events.

Head of security Joost Petrusma looked back on Friday and provided an update on what had happened in the previous days. He revealed what the police would announce later that afternoon: that they had visited a man who studied in the Faculty of Science, but he was not carrying a firearm. 

Most of those present were employees of the two faculties, and they spoke up during the question-and-answer session that followed. They also noted that they would have liked the university to say something earlier, rather than hearing from UU after RTV Utrecht had already reported on the police operation.

In their opinion, this would have prevented rumours from circulating and associations being made with the tram attack that happened in Utrecht in 2019 or the Erasmus University attack last year.

Petrusma and the board members present showed understanding of these feelings. However, they reaffirmed that the police were in charge of the operation. 

Police were in charge
Enquiries with the UU spokesperson later revealed that this was indeed the reason for the initial reluctance. It was 5:00 pm when the university reached an agreement with the police on what information could be shared. That is when UU communicated that the buildings would be closed through multiple channels, including social media, Intranet, the MyUU app, and other app groups. On Sunday and Monday, UU sent an email with an invitation to have a cup of coffee and talk about the incident on Monday.

The staff members present stated that they understood the police had to make tough decisions and that UU had to comply with them. However, one of those present remarked that even the message that nothing could be said at that moment would have been better than no message at all. Petrusma promised that these feelings would be taken into account in the evaluation of events.