'Are you safe?': UNC student newspaper compiles text messages from shooting lockdown

"Are you safe, where are you, are you alone, guys, I'm so scared."

2023-08-31

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel, went viral after publishing a front page featuring text messages from people on campus during a deadly shooting on Monday.

The front page, designed by print managing editor Caitlyn Yaede, compiles some of the most powerful messages from students and parents.

"I was feeling like it was something my mom could have sent me," Yaede said. "There was one text at the bottom that read something along the lines of, 'I wish I could just pick you up,' and that's something my mom says to me when I'm home with a cold let alone in a situation like this."

Yaede says she felt a strong sense of connection to her fellow students at that time.

"I felt sad that we had to go through that as a community," Yaede said. "It was a heart-wrenching experience to have to type it up, let alone live it."

On Monday, UNC professor Zijie Yan was killed in the on-campus shooting.

Yaede told WRAL News how she hopes people interpret the front page.

"My hope is to tell a story of a really scary three hours that we had on our campus on Monday," Yaede said. "I hope people see the reality of the impacts of gun violence, at least in our community."

Yaede hopes that people will be able to understand and share the feelings of students who are going through a challenging week.

"I hope people really feel the pain and loss of a faculty member here at UNC," she said.

Yaede expressed her happiness that President Joe Biden tweeted about the front page she created with her team.

"I'm very grateful for this front page's reach," Yaede said. "I'm grateful that it has touched so many people. At the same time, I am sad that so many people have found it relatable."

Yaede said she is thankful for Biden sharing the message and for being aware of the pain that the community is going through.

"We are looking at what happened on Monday," Yaede said. "We would love to go through and just get, you know, a breakdown of those three hours. That is a long time to be on lockdown."

Yaede says they are looking at how the community will come together and continue supporting each other, grieving and healing in the coming weeks and months.

"We are just looking at our university and how it handles crisis communications," Yaede said. "How they did it on Monday and how they will do it in the future."