University of Minnesota students and community members have expressed concern after University SAFE-U alerts were not issued following a Dinkytown shooting, which left one dead and two injured at about 2:50 a.m. on Nov. 1.

Among the three victims was a University student, who is currently in stable condition and expected to recover, according to University Police Department interim Chief Erik Swanson.

 A University public relations official said in an email to the Minnesota Daily that the UMPD released three morning notifications to Dinkytown alerts, not SAFE-U, within minutes of reports of shots fired. 

Several University students said many crimes reported in the alerts lack substantial information and come in late or not at all, according to the Daily.

Augsburg student Matt Jimenez was eating in Dinkytown with friends when he mistook fireworks for gunshots. 

“That’s not fireworks. That’s something serious,” Jimenez said. “We ran.”

Six days later, the University’s Office of the President sent an email to students, addressing the shooting. She outlined instructions on how to subscribe to Dinkytown alerts.

“This shooting, understandably, is likely to evoke fear and concern,” University President Rebecca Cunningham said. “The University is resolute in our commitment to support the safety and well-being of every member of our community.”

According to the University, SAFE-U alerts and Dinkytown alerts are different. 

SAFE-U alerts geographically cover the University Clery, which encompasses nearly all on-campus areas. University Clery Geography is the geographic area for which an institution is responsible for disclosing crime statistics, according to the University’s Safe Campus website. 

While Dinkytown lies outside of University Clery boundary lines, the Department of Public Safety partners with the City of Minneapolis to offer Dinkytown Alerts, as Dinkytown is not under the jurisdiction of UMPD. 

On-campus jurisdiction SAFE-U alerts are the default setting — all students are automatically enrolled in SAFE-U alerts via their University emails upon registration. Students have to manually toggle their notification settings to receive Dinkytown area safety alerts. 

Thus, the option was not necessarily obvious to the student body.

Before last week, many students had never heard of Dinkytown alerts. Both first-year student Lex Peterson and second-year Ayla Smailagic said that the existence of Dinkytown safety alerts was news to them.

“That’s interesting; I had no idea,” Smailagic said.