A sniper stalking the area around the nation’s capitol has killed nine and wounded two in the days since Oct. 2, claiming the lives of Maryland, Virginia and local Washington, D.C. residents. Georgetown students, especially those hailing from the District area, have felt the impacts of the crime wave, especially in light of the vulnerability caused by the sniper’s abrupt and precise method of killing.

Although there has currently been only one shooting in the District, taking place on Georgia Ave., the university has taken initiatives to elevate security levels around campus.

The Department of Public Safety, in conjunction with Residence Life and Campus Ministry, is staging a four-point coordinated approach, DPS Director William Tucker said.

“We’re in close contact with federal and metropolitan law enforcement agencies . we have heightened alert among campus officers and increased their number and visibility and we have an emergency response team that meets on a regular basis to monitor local events and analyze information as it becomes available,” Tucker said.

The plan’s final aspect provides counseling for any concerned members of the Georgetown community through both the offices of counseling and psychiatric services and the office of campus ministry.

“I am especially mindful of the many members of our community who are engaged in a wide range of activities throughout the District of Columbia metropolitan area and I encourage faculty, staff and students, as always, to exercise caution in their daily activities and to be aware of their surroundings at all times,” University President John J. DeGioia wrote in a university broadcast email sent out Thursday afternoon. ” . Thank you for supporting one another and working together to foster a supportive community during these unsettling times.”

Victims have been targeted while completing routine activities such as pumping gas or leaving and entering shopping centers, allowing the sniper to shoot precisely from a distance and leave the scene as quickly as possible.

To maximize one’s safety, the Metropolitan Police Department recommends being extra vigilante and taking precaution to not stay outside in one place for unnecessarily long periods of time.

“The best thing you can do is to keep moving,” Lieutenant Brian Bray of MPD said. “If you don’t stop anywhere and stand for long periods of time, the sniper won’t be able to target you.”

Bray also recommended getting in and out of vehicles as quickly as possible and paying attention to anything that might be construed as suspicious activity.

Some students who grew up in the D.C. area feel especially effected by the serial shootings. Christi Bird (COL ’05), whose family lives in Rockville, Md., where one of the fatalities occurred, felt safe going home for the Columbus Day weekend, but did think twice when going to public places such as the mall and grocery store.

“My sister and I wanted to go to Best Buy and we debated whether we should or not, just because the sniper has been hitting at places like that,” she said. “We ended up going, but we looked around before going in and out and moved a little quicker than normal.”

After the latest shooting incident, which occurred at a Home Depot parking lot in Falls Church, Va., Bird received a phone call from her concerned sister imploring her to stay near campus for the time being. Far from being the exception, however, familial concern is widespread. There have even been a few calls made by parents to DPS, Tucker said.

Freshman Erin Barbato (COL ’06), hailing from Highlands, N.C., discussed such worries with her mother, but they agreed not to dwell on the dangerous situation.

“When I came to the city I knew there was a chance of getting shot at a gas station anyway – or at least a better chance of that happening here than at one of the three gas stations back home – so there is really no reason to readjust my life for it,” she said. “It’s sad, but there is nothing you can do to prevent yourself from being a random person.”

Some students, however, plan on doing all that is possible to ensure that they are not that random person.

“I definitely won’t go past M. St. and Wisconsin for a while,” Bird said. “It would be too hard for the sniper to get away in this area . but further out, who knows, so I’ll stay nearby.”

The sniper’s actions have had a more subtle effects on other students such as Leslie Day (COL ’05), who grew up in Potomac, Md. in Montgomery County, where one of the fatal shootings occurred.

“I go home about once a week and I don’t think the sniper has had any bearing on that,” Day said. “Probably I do [worry] subconsciously; I am just too busy to really think about it.”

At the same time, however, most students echo Bird’s feelings of vulnerability when going off-campus.

“Georgetown is pretty enclosed, so I only really worry about it when I leave campus,” Day said.

Students with information regarding the sniper or any suspicious activity are urged to call a consolidated telephone line set up by the police at 1-888-324-9800.