OREM — It was a small but emotional moment for some Utah Valley University students Friday, as they returned to campus to collect personal belongings left behind during the shooting on Wednesday.
The items included everyday things like backpacks, cellphones, water bottles and clothes, the types of things students never imagined they would have to leave behind so suddenly during campus evacuations.
The belongings being picked up weren't from the pavilion where the shooting happened, which remains an active crime scene, but from classrooms and other areas of campus where students were told to leave.
Elizabeth Hansen, one of the UVU students picking up her belongings, said she was in ballet class when someone told them there was a shooter on campus.
"Nobody knew what was happening," said Hansen. "It was really scary. We go hide in a corner, and so none of us are grabbing our stuff. Then someone runs in and tells us we're evacuating. So, we're not by our stuff anymore, and we just run outside and we're in tights and a leo(tard)."
Some of her classmates were barefoot when they went outside but were given a ride by a police officer.
Looking back, Hansen said those first few minutes were terrifying.
"There's just, like, a blanket of fear that, like, washes over your heart, you know? Where, like, hope and light is supposed to be. And, then there's (something) like this. Hence, why we didn't go get our stuff, 'cause you don't run back into a burning building," she said.
As students picked up their belongings, UVU also provided therapists on site for anyone who needed to talk.
