Some students were left wondering Thursday morning as to why they did not receive text notification in regards to Wednesday’s shooting.

Through a two-pronged emergency alert system, NIU can alert students of on- or near-campus dangers. Anyone interested in receiving alerts and advisories can sign up for e-mail or text notifications. However, the warnings are only sent out if the NIU police force determines that a crime is a threat to the safety of the NIU community.

The choice to send out an emergency notification through NIU Text Alerts falls to the NIU police department, said Brad Hoey, team leader for NIU media relations.

In the case of the shooting, NIU police worked with its DeKalb counterparts to determine that the campus was not in danger and that no emergency advisory or alert needed to be sent out to students. Because the shooting falls under DeKalb’s investigatory jurisdiction, the DeKalb police force helped the NIU force determine whether or not to send out a notification.

DeKalb Police Chief Bill Feithen said his department has advised NIU police in the past whether to send or withhold notifications based on DeKalb Police investigations. Feithen said that, based on the information the police department has, they think the victim and suspects had prior contact and do not believe that the shooting was random.

“It was isolated,” Hoey said. “The local and campus community was not at threat. We put the information out on NIUToday so the campus community would know about the incident.”

Some students, however, felt that more should have been done to alert those in the area, regardless of whether or not there was an immediate threat to community members.

Shaneka Royston, senior nursing and Spanish major, said she had to hear the news from her supervisor at work.

“I think anything that happens on NIU’s campus after what happened on Valentine’s Day a few years back is a threat,” Royston said. “Anyone could have just been hit. I think they should have sent [a notification] out to let people know to stay clear of the area.”

Despite Royston’s worries, Feithen said his department did not believe the shooting suspects were still in the area or there was a danger to the campus when they advised the NIU police. Ultimately, the DeKalb and NIU police forces determined that there was no threat to the campus and an alert or advisory was unwarranted.

“We’re very cognizant of the safety of the students,” Feithen said. “Based on the information we had, there was not an ongoing threat to the students.”

Like Royston, freshman engineering major John George said though he had not signed up for the emergency notification system prior to the Wednesday night shooting, he would now. George said he thought a text or e-mail advisory should have been sent out in regards to the incident.

“It didn’t become a threat but I think it very easily could become one because [the shooting was] so close to campus,” George said. “[The police] were wrong [not to send out a notification].”