During the Saturday night homecoming comedy show held at the Mini-Dome, featuring comedian D.C. Young Fly, ETSU campus security received a potential gun threat notice at 10 p.m., leading to the full evacuation of the premises.
The notice was given on a hearsay that spread throughout the student body attending the show. Once campus security was notified of the threat, the Mini-Dome was immediately evacuated to ensure student safety.
Executive Assistant to the President for University Relations/Chief Communications Officer Joe Smith said the university is still undergoing a full investigation on the report. As for the measures taken, Smith said, “We had a threat, and we took precautions.”
President of Black Affairs Association Jeremiah Pearson said, “The show was fun. Everyone was enjoying it. It was upsetting that you have people in this world who would do a gun threat to the school at a black event. … As he posted after the incident, they didn’t let him finish. … He was going to talk about unity.”
Fly posted a video on his Instagram and said, “Everything was great. The students were having fun. … Everything was going great. Then I get on stage. … I know y’all ain’t like the stuff I was saying. It’s OK. You’ve got to hear the truth before the love and peace. My whole story was we need to come together and love each other, but you got to hear the truth first, but they didn’t want to hear the truth. Then all of a sudden a shooting threat.”
A video was posted on Facebook by Kenneth Bonner, showing a portion of Fly’s act before the comedian was alerted of the incident and people standing to leave at the video’s end.
No arrests were made as of Saturday night, and there were no reports of a weapon found on site. There were no reports of injuries.
Noland said persons who have additional information should contact ETSU Public Safety at 423/439-4480.
