College of the Desert responds to college shooting in Oregon

College of the Desert, located on Monterey Avenue in Palm Desert, released a statement Thursday afternoon in response to the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon that claimed the lives of at least 10 people.

Joel L. Kinnamon, the president and superintendent of the community college, wrote:

“The College of the Desert Board of Trustees, on behalf of our entire college community, sends heartfelt sympathy to Umpqua Community College and the town of Roseburg, Oregon.

Campus security is of the utmost importance. We work continuously to improve our security systems. The college staff and board reviewed our procedures recently. Staff is currently looking at additional tools to leverage technology for campus wide emergency notifications.

As we learn more about the Umpqua incident it will provide us with information to debrief internally and make any process improvements needed to provide the highest quality of security possible for our staff and students.

While we must all do everything we can to keep our campuses safe, there is simply no way to understand this type of senseless violence and loss of life.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the faculty, staff, students and family members touched by this terrible tragedy.”