Next to an American University dorm building, a man stands on a radio tower platform 255 feet in the air. He’s been there for almost two full days.
The man climbed up the tower—a 321-foot steel structure used by WAMU, WTOP, and other broadcasters—on Tuesday afternoon and has since refused to come down. Police, EMS, and fire officials remain gathered below.
First responders have “a way” to get items up to the man, Fire Department Battalion Chief Brian Phillips tells Washingtonian, and have given him a cell phone which he has been using to communicate with police officers. With temperatures likely to hit 90 degrees today, first responders have not yet delivered food or water to the man, who Phillips says told them he brought his own water and granola bars for his climb.
The man, who has not yet been identified publicly, told first responders that he would not come down from the tower and would cause harm to anyone who attempted to bring him down. Their goal now, Phillips says, is to wait until the man “becomes compliant” and asks for help.
On Tuesday night, the university ordered community members to shelter in place and evacuated buildings close to the tower. The police have since determined that the man “does not pose a risk to the community or campus safety,” according to a Wednesday morning statement from AU’s Bronté Burleigh-Jones.
The university resumed normal campus operations on Wednesday, though some roads on the south side of campus remain blocked off, according to an AU police officer.
A walk through south campus shows that while some intersections are guarded by university police, others are unguarded and strewn with fallen caution tape. Law enforcement and first responders continue to block the area around the tower, where there are several fire trucks and police vehicles.
But on the rest of campus, students continue on with their daily lives: rushing off to summer classes, taking graduation photos, and strolling in the sun. The steel structure towers over them in full view, with a man in red still standing on it.
