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WSU Pullman Alerts

Global Scholars Incident

March 28, 2024 9:43am

UPDATE – Thursday, March 28, 2024: Additional investigation revealed that Bazan was the person who called to report a subject with a knife and described himself. When officers confronted Bazan, he had his hands in his sweatshirt pockets and began moving toward officers. Bazan did not follow repeated instructions to stop and remove his hands from his pockets as officers were backing up and attempting to maintain a safe distance. An officer deployed a Taser which was initially ineffective. As Bazan continued to move toward the officers, Bazan quickly removed his hands from his sweatshirt in an aggressive manner. At that point, an officer fired a shot from his firearm which missed Bazan. After another Taser deployment officers were able to take Bazan into custody.

After evaluation at Pullman Regional Hospital, Bazan was transported to the Whitman County Jail and booked on charges of assault, resisting arrest, intimidation of a public servant, and obstruction.

Wednesday, March 27, 2024: At approximately 11:22 am, WSU Police responded to the 4th floor of Global Scholars residence hall on a report of a male subject with a knife. Shortly after contact officers reported they had fired a shot. The subject, identified as 20-year-old WSU student John Bazan, was taken into custody for obstructing an officer. It was determined Bazan was not struck by a bullet and was transported to Pullman Regional Hospital for evaluation.

Per protocol, the regional officer involved shooting investigative team will conduct an independent investigation of the incident and provide follow up media releases. Also, per protocol, the involved officer will be placed on administrative leave. The Officer’s identity will be released at a later time.

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I got a text, call or email from WSU Alert. What should I do next?

  • CONFIRM that you received the message.  If you are asked to confirm receipt of the message, please do so.  This is important as it helps us know if the message is getting out to the campus community.
  • Follow the instructions given in the message, assessing your personal situation.  This will vary depending on the circumstances.
  • Go to the WSU ALERT website (alert.wsu.edu), call the WSU Informational Hotline (509-335-2345) or check other official internal sources to get more information on what is happening and what you should do in response. We can only provide a brief bit of information in the WSU Alert message so you will want to get more details on the situation.
  • Follow the instructions of emergency personnel and comply with your unit’s emergency procedures as appropriate.

I heard the Siren/PA system on campus. What should I do?

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  • If you cannot hear or understand the voice instructions from the PA system, the default is always to seek shelter first, and then get more information from the WSU Alert website, WSU Informational hotline or other official sources. 
  • Follow the instructions of emergency personnel and comply with your unit’s emergency procedures as appropriate.

What should I NOT do when I get a message or hear the sirens?

  • Do not ignore the message.  You won’t get one unless it is important, so pay attention and be alert!
  • Please don’t get on your cell or land-line phone and call your family/friends to talk to them about what is going on.  WSU and Pullman have limited phone resources that can be easily overwhelmed due to high volume use.  Please stay off your phone as much as possible; lines and cell phone capacity will be needed to get the word out to the campus community about the emergency, as well as for critical emergency communications.
  • Ask your friends and family to not call you during an emergency.  The same issues apply from above to incoming calls from outside the area.  Ask them, instead, if they hear about an emergency at WSU to go to the WSU ALERT website (alert.wsu.edu) for information.  Ask them to not call the University for more information during the emergency. The best place for current and accurate information will be the WSU ALERT website.