UTRGV personnel evacuated from Bob Clark center

UPDATED 3:39 p.m. Oct. 29, 2019

UTRGV issued an “all clear” yesterday at 8 p.m.

Adan Cruz, UTRGV Police Department assistant chief, told The Rider a university police officer conducted a Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events (CRASE) training earlier today at the clinic.

“He’ll be stationed there for the next day or so until we see that everything is OK,” Cruz said. 

He said, as of now, there is no ongoing threat.

“We’re investigating the call in partnership with the FBI out of Brownsville and, at this time, we have no ongoing threat,” Cruz said.

He said the police department is investigating the source of the threat.

UTRGV has evacuated all university personnel following a terroristic threat made against the Bob Clark Social Services Center. 

“At the point when the building closes for the day, that’s when we’ll send out an ‘all clear,’” said Patrick Gonzales, associate vice president for Marketing and Communications and university spokesman. “The official ‘all clear’ has not been sent out and will not be sent out until the county closes that building.”

Gonzales told The Rider the county will keep the building open until 8 p.m.

UTRGV sent an emergency notification earlier today informing the campus community of the threat against the center located at 9901 California Rd. in Brownsville. 

The center houses a UTRGV School of Medicine facility.

Gonzales said the UTRGV Police department responded to the call as well as the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office.

Asked if there were any developments, he replied, “No, and, in fact, I was told that the county would have all that information. They’re kind of taking the lead on this.”

The Rider tried to contact the Cameron County Sheriff’s Department in Olmito for more information but were told to call between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Tuesday. The newspaper also tried reaching the sheriff’s office in Harlingen but was unsuccessful. 

Gonzales said the campus community should be aware of the university’s emergency alert notification system as well as social media pages to receive the latest updates on the situation.

“The reason an emergency alert was sent out is so our students, faculty and staff would avoid that area, avoid that health education center until further notice,” he said. 

–Alejandra Yañez contributed to this report.