Lalou Ratsimihah was working their shift as a front desk assistant in Doheny Memorial Library when their manager told them to grab their belongings and tell students to evacuate. The student’s manager didn’t say why, only that there was an emergency and Ratsimihah could not leave until everyone was evacuated.
Until Ratsimihah, a junior journalism major who uses they/them pronouns, received an email from TrojansAlert on their phone, they didn’t know that a bomb threat had been made on the building. Ratsimihah’s manager told them they would be the last student to leave the building because they are a student worker.
“Our manager wanted us to leave with him, and he had to be the last person out so that he could lock the doors,” Ratsimihah said. “People were still trying to check out books. I was like, ‘Okay, you need to follow directions and you need to leave.’”
Ratsimihah was one of the many students at Leavey and Doheny Memorial Library when the bomb threat was announced at 2:45 p.m. Sunday.
The threat resulted in a complete evacuation and closure of both libraries. Students inside were told to leave the building and “stay away from the area,” according to an email notification from TrojansAlert.
“I was scared, but I don’t know. I was more just really confused to have them say, ‘We need to evacuate the building,’ and then no alarms went off,” Ratsimihah said. “Security wasn’t really talking to us, and people were looking to me for answers, and I had nothing to say. I didn’t know what was going on either.”
Department of Public Safety (DPS) Assistant Chief David Carlisle said that senior administrators on the library’s staff were “well-informed” of the situation and knew of the bomb threat.
Annenberg Media reached out to USC Library Communications to clarify if library managers, like those working directly with Ratsimihah were informed of the bomb threat, but were redirected to the USC Department of Public Safety (DPS).
While the announcement of an “emergency” prompting evacuation was made over a loudspeaker in Leavey Library, student workers in Doheny were told to inform patrons by word of mouth.
Ada Li, a sophomore majoring in public relations and advertising and narrative studies, was studying in Leavey Library during the bomb threat. Li said she would have preferred more information while evacuating.
“I wish there was a message that could have been more urgent because from the tone of the announcement, nobody knew what it was. It could have been something that could be ignored,” Li said.
In an email to Annenberg Media on Monday, Carlisle said the department suspects the case is a part of the growing trend of swatting — a false emergency report with the intent of eliciting a large response by law enforcement — on college campuses, but said DPS and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) “have no proof.”
Carlisle confirmed the threat came as an email from an anonymous source, and was sent to at least three separate USC departments. Those department emails are not frequently checked by staff on weekends, Carlisle said, and led to a delay in reporting the bomb threat.
“These types of threats, particularly from an untraceable source, are difficult to prevent,” Carlisle said. “Although almost all such calls are false, we take each one seriously and take appropriate steps to mitigate any threat.”
The LAPD is currently investigating the threat.
Samantha Barrera, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering, was studying at Leavey Library when she first noticed police walking through the floor. She didn’t think much of it until she heard an emergency announcement on the library intercom.
“I think I was already home when I got the text that the reason they had us evacuate was because of the bomb threat,” Barrera said. “I didn’t know what was going on until I got that.”
Barrera says that she will be avoiding the library for a few days, but says the incident has not deterred her from returning in the future.
“I think because everybody was so calm about it … I didn’t stress too much,” she said. “But I knew there was definitely something going on.”
While Ratsimihah will continue working at Doheny, they said this event highlighted what seems to be a recurring issue in their job at the library.
“I feel fine, but it’s not the first time that something like this has happened,” Ratsimihah said. “I was there the night when the first floor [of Doheny] got vandalized, and I didn’t really know what was going on then, either … it always feels like we kind of never know what’s going on.”