STUDENTS AT UTEP UNFAZED BY STRAY BULLET

Students excited for the first day of classes at UTEP seemed
oblivious to the violence in Juarez and to the possibility that a
stray bullet may have hit the campus during the weekend.

They crowded the campus Monday, absorbed in their new classes,
teachers and classmates, ignoring a piece of plywood used to cover a
glass panel that broke when a bullet struck the south side of Bell Hall.

"Everything seems to be on the down low," said Federico Corral, 19, a junior.

School officials said the stray bullet may have come from a Saturday
shootout in Juarez that was visible from Sunset Heights and heard at
UTEP. A 24-year-old man was killed in the gunfight. The shootout
prompted a quick response from El Paso police, who shut down a
stretch of Paisano Drive for about 30 minutes.

Although El Paso police said Saturday they thought no bullets had
crossed into the U.S., UTEP police found a bullet Sunday morning
during a regular building inspection.

The glass panel of a Bell Hall door was broken. Police then found a
bullet had hit the corner of College of Science adviser Margie
Gutierrez's office door. Her Bell Hall office was crowded Monday
morning, but not because of the bullet. Students were more worried
about failing to register for classes on time than by the weekend incident.

Freshman Brandon Picazzo, 18, said he felt safe.

"I don't think anyone has anything to worry about," he said.

Other students were worried but not alarmed. Stefanie Morales, 20,
walked by Bell Hall on Monday morning.

"I was 'Oh my God. That's where the bullet hit,' " she said.

But Morales said she quickly forgot about it and was enjoying a fair
outside the Student Union with hundreds of other students.

"A lot of people are normal about it," she said.

UTEP President Diana Natalicio was also at ease.

"There are students who are here for the first day of the semester.
They want to get an education," she said. "Obviously, we want them to
be safe and secure, and if we didn't think that they were, we would
have taken precautions not to allow them into the campus."

The incident was so random that Natalicio said she does not expect a repeat.

It was the first time a Juarez bullet hit a UTEP building, but the
second time a drug-related shooting had an impact on a University of
Texas campus.

About a year ago, bullets from a shootout in Matamoros, Mexico, hit a
building and car at UT Brownsville. Police evacuated the campus and
closed the school for at least three days in September 2009. UT
Brownsville, like UTEP, is near the border.

In late June, several bullets, also possibly fired from Juarez, hit
the City Hall building in El Paso.

If the stray bullet that hit UTEP came from Juarez, it had to have
taken a precise path to hit the south side of Bell Hall, Natalicio
said. The science building, next to the UTEP Library, is almost
completely hidden from Juarez's sight.

The bullet had to travel a very narrow passageway to find its way
through campus. Bell Hall is a little less than a mile away from the
site of the shooting reported shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday by
Chihuahua state police. In fact, the bullet had to travel past
Interstate 10, then between campus construction, trees and the
library to reach Bell Hall.

Campus police chief Cliff Walsh said the theory that the bullet
originated from Juarez is the most probable. But so far it is just a
hypothesis, he said.

"Can we say conclusively without a doubt? Absolutely not," he said.

Walsh said a preliminary investigation looked at the line of sight,
the bullet's possible trajectory and the time it was fired. He did
not know the caliber or type of firearm used. He ruled out the theory
that a gun was discharged on campus.

Walsh said the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives had joined the investigation. He said he hoped the
ballistics tests would yield decisive results.

UTEP officials sent an e-mail and text message Sunday to students,
staff and faculty informing them of the incident. Walsh said that if
officials knew of a similar incident occurring while students were on
campus, they would sent out a message advising people to take shelter.

"There are very few options we have," he said.