{
  "id": "2024-06-11-weber-state-code-purple-mental-health",
  "slug": "weber-state-code-purple-mental-health-2024-06-11",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Weber State University",
    "shortName": "Weber State",
    "state": "UT",
    "type": "public-masters",
    "alertSystemName": "Code Purple",
    "enrollment": 27000
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2024-06-11",
    "type": "police-activity",
    "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification",
    "headline": "Staff member's mental-health crisis prompts a four-hour response; the employee later died",
    "headlinePublic": "Staff member's mental-health crisis prompts a four-hour response; the employee later died",
    "summary": "On the morning of Tuesday, June 11, 2024, [Weber State University in Ogden, Utah issued a Code Purple alert](https://gephardtdaily.com/local/wsu-code-purple-issued-people-in-hurst-center-ordered-to-shelter-in-place/) after a staff member experiencing a severe emotional crisis was reported in the parking lot of the Hurst Center on the south part of the main campus. The Hurst Center was placed on shelter-in-place, and residents at some Wildcat Village buildings were advised to relocate. Mobile Crisis Outreach Team, SWAT, and Weber State Police Department spent approximately four hours attempting de-escalation. [The staff member was eventually transported to a hospital with a self-inflicted injury and later pronounced dead](https://gephardtdaily.com/local/weber-state-releases-statement-on-code-purple-alert/).",
    "outcome": "Code Purple lifted after approximately four hours. The staff member was transported to a local hospital with a self-inflicted injury and was later pronounced dead. No other injuries. Weber State spokesman Bryan Magaña called the loss 'devastating' and offered condolences. The Hurst Center reopened later that day; some residential buildings were temporarily restricted.",
    "resolution": "confirmed-threat",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 1,
      "injured": 0
    }
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestampApprox": "Morning of June 11, 2024, MDT",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from Gephardt Daily reporting on the Code Purple alert text issued by Weber State PD",
      "annotations": []
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "update",
      "timestampApprox": "Mid-day on June 11, 2024, MDT",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from Gephardt Daily's reporting that WSU said there was 'no threat to rest of campus' during the multi-hour intervention",
      "annotations": []
    },
    {
      "sequence": 3,
      "type": "all-clear",
      "timestamp": "2024-06-11T13:31:00-06:00",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "Police activities involving one individual at the Hurst Center have ceased and there is no threat to the rest of campus or the public. Wildcat Village will be re-opened and Hurst Center employees should await further guidance from supervisors.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://gephardtdaily.com/local/wsu-code-purple-issued-people-in-hurst-center-ordered-to-shelter-in-place/",
      "sourceDescription": "Gephardt Daily, verbatim Code Purple all-clear text quoted in the June 11, 2024 article reporting the lifting of the Weber State Code Purple order at 1:31 p.m. MDT",
      "annotations": [
        "Sent at 1:31 p.m. MDT on June 11, 2024, approximately four hours after the initial alert, the all-clear message is quoted verbatim by Gephardt Daily in its article reporting the Code Purple lift",
        "The all-clear text uses procedural language ('have ceased,' 'no threat to the rest of campus') without disclosing that the individual had died, the death was disclosed separately in a WSU spokesman statement later that day",
        "The phrase 'Wildcat Village will be re-opened' reflects the partial residential closure that accompanied the Hurst Center lockdown and confirms the geographic scope of the all-clear"
      ],
      "characterCount": 243
    }
  ],
  "context": "[Weber State University](https://www.weber.edu/) is a public master's-granting institution in Ogden, Utah, serving roughly 27,000 students. Its [Code Purple emergency notification system](https://www.weber.edu/codepurple/) is the institution's branded all-emergencies alert label, distinct from medical-coded systems at peer Utah institutions. On the morning of Tuesday, June 11, 2024, [Weber State PD responded to a staff member having a severe emotional crisis](https://gephardtdaily.com/local/wsu-code-purple-issued-people-in-hurst-center-ordered-to-shelter-in-place/) in the parking lot of the Hurst Center on the south side of campus. WSU issued a Code Purple shelter-in-place for the Hurst Center and advised residents at some Wildcat Village buildings to relocate. The [Mobile Crisis Outreach Team, SWAT, and Weber State PD](https://gephardtdaily.com/local/weber-state-releases-statement-on-code-purple-alert/) spent approximately four hours attempting de-escalation. Ultimately the individual was transported to a local hospital with a self-inflicted injury and later pronounced dead. WSU spokesman Bryan Magaña called the loss 'devastating' and offered condolences in an institutional statement. The case is significant for the archive because (a) it documents a campus alert system handling a mental-health crisis rather than an external threat, (b) the Code Purple's building-specific scoping (Hurst Center only, not campus-wide) reflects a calibrated alert posture suited to non-active-threat incidents, and (c) the all-clear kept to procedural language, with the death disclosed separately in an institutional statement.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "A four-hour Code Purple was triggered by a staff member in mental-health crisis rather than an external threat",
    "Weber State scoped the alert to a single building (Hurst Center) rather than the entire campus, a calibrated posture suited to non-active-threat incidents",
    "The all-clear text used procedural language and did not disclose the death; in a separate university statement, spokesman Bryan Magaña called the loss 'devastating'",
    "Three agencies coordinated the response: Mobile Crisis Outreach Team, SWAT, and Weber State PD, and the Mobile Crisis Outreach Team's involvement reflects a Utah-specific alternative-response model",
    "The individual's death was disclosed in a separate institutional statement, not in the all-clear text"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "WSU lifts code purple order; 'no threat to rest of campus' — Gephardt Daily",
      "url": "https://gephardtdaily.com/local/wsu-code-purple-issued-people-in-hurst-center-ordered-to-shelter-in-place/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Weber State releases statement on Code Purple alert — Gephardt Daily",
      "url": "https://gephardtdaily.com/local/weber-state-releases-statement-on-code-purple-alert/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Code Purple Emergency Notification System — Weber State University",
      "url": "https://www.weber.edu/codepurple/",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Lockdown/Shelter In Place — Weber State University Police Department",
      "url": "https://www.weber.edu/police/lockdownshelter.html",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "WSU police spread awareness of Code Purple — The Signpost (Weber State student paper)",
      "url": "https://thesignpostwsu.com/44235/news/wsu-police-spread-awareness-of-code-purple/",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "medium",
  "tags": [
    "police-activity",
    "mountain-west",
    "utah",
    "weber-state",
    "code-purple",
    "mental-health",
    "shelter-in-place",
    "ogden",
    "swat",
    "mobile-crisis-outreach",
    "staff-member"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-03",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-16",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}