Campus victim zone: Shooting puzzles peaceful Bluffton

We've said it before and we'll keep on saying it: so-called "gun free" zones do nothing to prevent persons intent on breaking the law from doing so. Ohio's concealed carry law contains far too many defenseless victim zones, which do nothing to deter criminals, but do everything to endanger potential victims.

Bullet hits door in college dorm

February 13, 2004
Toledo Blade

BLUFFTON, Ohio - Someone fired a small-caliber handgun inside a Bluffton College residence hall Wednesday night, shattering the peace the Mennonite college holds dear.

No one was injured, and no weapon - or suspect - has been located. The bullet grazed the hallway’s block wall, then struck the door frame of the second-floor resident adviser’s room in Hirschy Annex, a three-story men’s dormitory.

"We cleared the whole second floor and interviewed all the people who were there, but basically we have no leads at this time," Bluffton Police Chief Reid Foust said. "The students heard it, but they all said the same thing. They all said they didn’t see anything."

Campus-wide, students were notified of the incident by voice mail yesterday morning and informed that all residence halls would be locked 24 hours a day until further notice.

"It’s very bizarre, especially for our college," said Simeon Talley, a sophomore from Columbus. "I wouldn’t expect it to happen at Bluffton College. We’re a very safe college. We don’t have many problems."

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Residents of both the first and third floors of Hirschy Annex said they could hear the shot but no one thought the firecracker-like sound could have come from a gun.

"It sounded like one, but we didn’t think it would be a gunshot," said Dan Rosebrock, a sophomore from Napoleon. "I really wasn’t that scared because I figured it was probably just someone messing around."

He was watching television in his first-floor room when he heard the shot about 9:30 p.m.

On the third floor, Brad Deyling said he joked with his roommate that "someone just blew up the bathroom" after they heard the shot. They were shocked to find out what really happened.

"I try not to worry about it," Mr. Deyling of Parma, Ohio, said. "Nobody got hurt, which is a good thing. Hopefully they weren’t intending to hurt anybody."

Dr. Donald Schweingruber, vice president and dean of student life, said that in his 32 years at Bluffton, he has never known of a gun being on campus.

"I’m upset, of course," he said. "This is a very serious incident. Incident is the wrong word to describe it. This is a major event. I’m very anxious to find out who did it and apprehend the person who did it."

Chief Foust said students who heard the shot and came out of their rooms saw no one. It’s possible the shooter fled out the stairwell around the hallway corner, but police found no evidence in the stairwell or on the grounds outside the dorm.

"It’s kind of strange," the chief said. "We’re continuing to talk to some of the kids that were in the building at the time. Hopefully somebody will come up with something."

Normally, the residence halls are not locked until midnight. Dr. Schweingruber said it’s hard to say if many nonresidents were in the dorm at the time of the shooting.

"It’s hard to know. There’s an openness here that people can come and go," he said.

The Christian college is known for its Lion and Lamb Peace Arts Center, death-penalty protests, and an age-old honor code that requires students to report cheating. Instructors do not remain in the classrooms while students take exams.

Students routinely leave coats and backpacks on the floor at Marbeck Center when they stop in for lunch. Yesterday, a laptop computer was unattended - and untouched - in the lobby of the student center.

"This is a good place," Mr. Deyling said. "Most of the students are really nice here. This is just a once-in-a-lifetime stupid thing that someone did."

Jami Reeves of Buhler, Kan., said she transferred to Bluffton this year from a smaller Mennonite college in Kansas in part to get farther from home and in part because of a drive-by shooting that occurred at that campus last year. Yesterday’s news was a bit disconcerting to her.

"I want to know if it was someone on campus or someone off campus," she said. "I still feel safe here, but I’d like it to be resolved."