UTEP being evacuated due to possible bomb threat

The University of Texas at El Paso is being evacuated because of a bomb threat.

Details are not available but a text sent to students and faculty said: "The university has a bomb threat please evacuate the university campus." The message was sent about 2 p.m.

University police officials issued the following recommendations:

Move toward the nearest exit in a building.

Leave all belongings behind.

Assist co-workers/students in need.

Report to your manager/supervisor once in a safe place.

Await for further instruction before leaving a safe area.

Chris Lechuga, a campus spokesman, said, "There is a threat and we are asking everybody to evacuate."

He would not say what the threat was. The campus will be closed for the rest of the day.

A student said police were swarming the school. Commuters found heavy congestion in the area.

"It was a little scary," said Karla Acevedo, 19, a freshman at the school. "We were in class, they were explaining the homework when everybody started looking at their phones and the teacher said we have to evacuate. We left, like running, we were all scared."

Acevedo, who is from Juárez and was in an English class, added, "Really, I thought I had left Juárez behind. People come here because

of its tranquility."

Juárez had been considered one of the most violent cities in the Americas because of a drug war in which several thousand have been killed.

Students Cynthia Renteria and Carolina Monsivais, both doctoral students in borderland history, said they went back to check on the professors before evacuating.

"I was a little shocked and a little surprised to see the initial text," Monsivais said.

Renteria said she saw her friends expression change and became worried.

"We got up and went to check on our professors" Renteria said.

The two were in the Student Union preparing to go to class and called the student reaction calm.