The university's reputation for precise, collaborative work was put to the test last week as campus police, firefighters and Student Housing staff worked with outside agencies to safely defuse a potentially hazardous situation.

The UC team worked together late Wednesday night, March 5, to evacuate 455 students — mosly freshman — from seven buildings within the Tercero residence hall area and, Thursday morning, worked with other agencies to safely remove five milk crate-sized bins of explosive powders and chemicals, and plastic and metal pipes.

"What made this a safe and productive law-enforcement operation was the collaborative effort involving local, state and federal agencies," said UC Davis Police Lt. Nader Oweis, who served as the incident commander.

After spending nearly 12 hours in the nearby Tercero dining hall, the students were able to return to their rooms at midday on Thursday.

One of them did not. UC Davis freshman Mark Christopher Woods, 18, who lived in the residence hall room where the explosives were found, was arrested by UC Davis police on two felony charges: possession of chemicals to make explosives and possession of explosive materials on school grounds. He was booked and later released from the Yolo County Jail late Thursday after posting $100,000 bail. His arraignment in Yolo County Superior Court is set for Friday, April 4, at 1:30 p.m.

The joint investigation continues, led by the UC Davis Police Department and including the Sacramento regional bomb team, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI.

Because Woods, an economics major from Torrance, was arrested on felony charges that threaten campus safety, he has been referred to the campus Office of Student Judicial Affairs. Disciplinary policy dictates that a student facing such charges immediately be placed on interim suspension and not be allowed on campus until the conclusion of university, law enforcement and judicial proceedings. A student's status will be evaluated depending on the outcome of the university investigation and any prosecution.

All campus activities continued as scheduled on Thursday with no disruption to classes or campus business.

"Campus police and fire officials evacuated one portion of our student housing complex as a precaution, and we commend those students for their cooperation with authorities throughout the evening," said Fred Wood, vice chancellor for student affairs. "The evacuation went smoothly, as did their return back to their rooms. The campus is providing support to those students on a case-by-case, as-needed basis for any missed classes or exams."

The police investigation has pieced together this series of events. At about 6 p.m. Wednesday, there was an explosion on a third-floor balcony of Building D in the Tercero Residence Halls. (Tercero residents reported this explosion to officials after the evacuation but no one reported it at the time it occurred.)

At about 9 p.m., UC Davis police received a call from a woman who said there might be explosive devices inside a third-floor room in Building D. Officers went to the room, where they found Woods and suspicious materials, prompting campus police and fire officials to evacuate the Tercero complex as a precaution until the arrival of other law enforcement and fire agencies. During the evacuation process, the fire alarm systems were activated, bullhorns were used, and uniformed officers and firefighters walked all floors twice to ensure that everyone was out.

The evacuated students spent the night in the nearby Tercero dining hall. (The dining hallhas lounge space in addition to dining areas, and meal service was not interrupted.)

While at the Tercero dining hall, Dining Services (Sodexo) staff and Student Housing staff were available to assist students and provide food, beverages and blankets until the residents were able to return to their rooms.

Dining Services' Brenan Connolly, general manager, and Michael LaShure, unit director, led the effort. LaShure praised the staff who assisted and, particularly, the student staff members, three of whom also happened to be Tercero residents. Dining Services provided food and beverage service for not only the students but also the response teams. When it was determined that the incident would last all night, Dining Services took the initiative to provide toothbrushes and toothpaste to those residents who wanted them.

Student Housing also coordinated with Counseling and Psychological Services to get counselors onsite to assist students. Mike Sheehan, associate director for Student Housing who was on-site during the event, praised the strong teamwork involved with the incident management and support provided to the students. "The resources from Student Housing and Dining Services came together seamlessly to serve our students," Sheehan said. "I'm proud of all who were involved at the scene during the event and also during post-event processing."

As the students made the best of their situation at the dining hall, law enforcement officers determined that the situation was contained to the housing complex, and that there was no further threat to the safety or security of the campus community that required a campuswide activation of the new emergency notification system.

Woods had not made any threats to harm people on campus, and was cooperative with investigators in describing the materials in his residence-hall room, campus police said.

At about 6:30 a.m. Thursday, the News Service posted a highlighted link on the campus home page, directing readers to the first of what would be a series of more than a half-dozen updates posted throughout the day about the events unfolding at Tercero. The updates appeared on the campus's Emergency Services page. Meanwhile, the campus community also was kept informed from Wednesday night through Thursday by the large number of TV, radio and print reporters who converged on campus. News Service and UC Davis Police representatives conducted numerous interviews throughout the 12-hour-plus incident. At the peak mid-morning, 11 satellite trucks were on site, five doing live feeds, and three news helicopters were overhead. ATF issued its own national news release on the agency's response.

Shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday, campus officials did use the notification system to send a campuswide e-mail to let students, faculty and staff members know that the campus was secure and that activities would continue as scheduled.

After waiting for a search warrant to be issued Thursday morning, the hazardous materials experts assessed the substances in the room. By noon, the Sacramento regional bomb team, together with the campus Office of Environmental Health and Safety, had catalogued and removed the materials from campus to the ATF's forensic laboratory in Walnut Creek.