A 17-year old was shot at the Wood Street T station last Tuesday, but students did not learn of the event from the PointALERT emergency alert system.

PointALERT is a subscription-based automated text message alert system that makes students aware of potentially dangerous, usually criminal, situations on or nearby campus. It also notifies students of campus closures due to parades or inclement weather.

Jeffrey Besong, Point Park Police Chief, runs PointALERT, and admits that he was “back and forth” on sending students, faculty and staff a notification of the shooting. Ultimately, he opted against it.

“We were contacted immediately by the Port Authority Police and learned the individual…was already on a bus and had left the scene, so there was no immediate threat to the university,” Besong said in a phone interview Thursday.

According to Besong, the suspect of the shooting boarded a Port Authority bus and was removed and detained in the North Side, after police contacted the driver.

But, many Point Park students have raised concerns about the lack of a notification, regardless, specifically for commuters who rely on the T to get to campus, or for those who live in the Clark Building, nearby the Wood Street T Station.

“I was about to walk back from class and my roommate texted me,” Devon Knott, a junior screenwriting major who lives in the Clark Building, said. “It might have been nice to get an email…my roommate might not have been there.”

Jessica Federkeil, a junior journalism major relies on the T to get to campus from the North Shore each day.

“[A PointALERT] is something that might have been nice to have…maybe before I try to go home using the T,” Federkeil, who was on campus later than usual preparing a grand opening event for the CMI, said. “I think with its proximity to campus, they should have sent an alert.”

According to Besong, the decision to hold the alert came not only from the lack of immediate threat, but to emphasize the urgency of PointALERTs.

“We don’t want our faculty, staff or students to become immune to the alerts,” Besong said. “We don’t want PointALERT to be used as an information call…we want to keep it for immediate threats.”

Point Park Police officers were at the scene on Tuesday, to aid Pittsburgh and Port Authority police in securing the area. The Point Park Police Department also met with city officials, Pittsburgh Public School officials and Port Authority officials last week.

“We are all working together to provide proper ramification, not only from city courts, but from the schools as well,” Besong said.

Point Park Police and its PointALERT system cover the perimeters of Point Park’s campus, from Fort Pitt Boulevard to Forbes Ave., from Stanwix Street to Smithfield Street. However, Point Park police also patrol parts of Oakland neighboring the playhouse, where many commuters reside, along with Market Square due to its high activity and close proximity to campus.

Over the summer, students received a PointALERT notification of a robbery in Market Square. According to Besong, an alert was sent for the robbery because the suspect was not caught.

“[The suspect] was not apprehended, and we received note that he was headed down Third Ave, very close to our campus,” Besong said.

The shooting on Sept. 13 came just months after a shooting on July 4 in a nearby intersection that left four people shot. The station made Pittsburgh headlines all summer long, with reports of several juvenile fights.

“[The shooting] definitely makes me feel more uneasy,” Federkeil said. “Especially at night, it makes you a little more nervous than it typically would.”

Besong said the general times of unrest at the Wood Street station is generally when high school students are dismissed from school, from roughly 2:30 to 5 p.m. He advised students to use street smarts, and to avoid wearing ear buds or headphones, which can make it difficult to hear someone approaching from behind.

Students can enroll for the PointALERT notification system by searching “Point Alert” on PointWeb. Police escorts can be requested by calling PPU Police or texting 412-COPSTIP.