When news broke of a possible armed assailant Friday evening, the Ball State women’s basketball team was at practice inside Worthen Arena.
“A couple policemen came out and said, ‘Coach, you need to get your team in the locker room and lock the doors,’” head coach Brady Sallee said.
Sallee moved his players to the nearby locker room with a swimmer and some athletic trainers.
“Your instincts take over,“ Sallee said. “It’s about taking care of your family at that point. Ultimately, we’re all family in that locker room.”
Upon entering the locker room, the team dropped all its practice equipment and balls.
“As soon as we got [the players] in, we closed the door and hunkered down,” Sallee said. “At that point, we were in double-locked doors. We were about as safe as you could be.”
Sallee said he told the team to text their parents and families, but they were quiet at first.
“Then they started talking amongst themselves a little bit,” Sallee said. “A couple of them were on their iPads, shopping. They got a little bit comfortable. I think they felt very safe at that point, waiting on the police.“
The locker room has a television in it, so the team was watching the news for updates.
Sallee said his team was in the locker room for about an hour to an hour and a half before police came to evacuate them.
“When the police finally came and knocked, it got really quiet,“ he said. “We didn’t initially open the door until we could really know it was the police. We were a little bit careful.“
After being evacuated from the locker room, the team was moved to the Architecture Building.
Sallee thought highly of work of the police officers working Friday.
“I’m at an age where I distinctly remember the Columbines and the Virginia Techs,” Sallee said. “That kind of stuff is real. … I didn’t see anyone at all ever in a panic because I think the police had it so under control — right from the get-go.”
The University Police Department, the Muncie Police Department, the Delaware County Sheriff’s Department, Indiana State Police, Homeland Security, Delaware County Emergency Management and the FBI responded Friday.
The team’s next practice was at 7 a.m. Saturday.
All of the team’s balls and equipment were at the same spot they left it when they went to the locker room.
“We came back in, and it was all there waiting on us,“ Sallee said.
He said the team’s practice was one of the best it had all season.
“I think [the players] felt good to get back out there and return to normalcy a little bit,” Sallee said.
The Ball State men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams also were in the complex during the search.
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