City Colleges of Chicago Faced with a Bomb Threat

By: Isabel Altamirano

On August 21,  before the start of the Fall semester, students received an email titled “Bomb Threat Notification” from the City Colleges of Chicago.

It read, “Our seven colleges received a non-credible bomb threat overnight.” Reportedly threatening two of our seven college campuses, it left thousands of students alarmed to hear about a threat so early in the school year. 

“I was surprised, as it was the start of the semester. Did not expect that email on a random day,” said Jocelyn Delgado, an engineering student. “I was just taken aback and confused,” said Taylor Golden, a first-year English Education student. 

The CCC district office is connected with the Chicago Police Department (CPD), which receives information and sends it to our schools. The security network works towards tracking the exact location this information was sent from. Additionally, it was reported that other universities received similar threats from this same outside source. 

Director of Safety and Security, Victor Guerrieri, has been working for CCC for 11 years, and at Wilbur Wright College for the past 10 years. He worked firsthand on the recent school bomb threat. 

Director of Safety and Security, Victor Guerrieri, works in his office, located at E-108. (Photo credit: Isabel Altamirano)

“We take it very seriously, we have very pronounced protocols that we make sure to follow,” said Guerrieri. He explained that the Wright College security team conducted a cursory search, and an in-person search to track any suspicious activity or objects around the campus.

The team worked with CPD, and federal and state partners, eventually concluded no suspicious activity and deemed the threat as non-credible. 

According to Guerrieri, a credible threat only occurs when solidified evidence is found. Additional protocol steps would then be in order. “We can’t be everywhere, we can’t see everything, so we look for students, faculty, and staff to let us know if they see something and help us do our job,” said Guerrieri. 

Guerrieri recognizes and praises student and staff cooperation regarding safety. “We have a great group of students that come here, and 99.9% of the time, students cooperate” Guerrieri reassured.

Guerrieri’s office is located at E-108, and he encourages anyone with concerns for their safety to visit. “We want to make sure that students, staff, and even visitors that come in our building are safe.”