On Monday evening, two students riding home on their bikes were shot at from a passing truck. Juniors Sarah McCarthy and Kyle Bain were at the corner of Howard and Lincoln, near Alder, between 11:30 p.m. and midnight. A blue or black truck drove up and they heard loud popping noises: pellets shot from a BB gun.

“I know it wasn’t a real gun but it was kind of disturbingly close, pellet guns can kill people,” said McCarthy.

“I let go of my handlebars to cover my ears,” said Bain.

Their initial reaction was confusion. They were disoriented.

“We didn’t really flight or fight,” said McCarthy. McCarthy was hit in the leg by one of the 10 shots fired. The pellet broke her skin, drawing blood.

“It felt like something bit me hard,” she said.

McCarthy and Bain proceeded to the Welty Health Center where McCarthy was treated. They called campus security from the Health Center. The officer who answered their call was a stand-in who is on-call and fills in at the security office when needed. He talked to the students and called the police but did not file a report. The police informed the officer that several other reports had been made that evening of similar incidents. No police officer came to the Welty center to talk to the students in person.

Craig McKinnon, the associate director of security at Whitman, expressed his surprise at how the incident was handled. “I’m surprised the police didn’t come; even for a minor theft they will come. This was an assault, that is very bizarre,” said McKinnon. McKinnon said that typically the security officer on duty will file a report. No report, however, was filed. McKinnon pointed out that the incident was off-campus and the police were called as two possible explanations for this oversight.

Over the course of his 26 years at Whitman, McKinnon has noticed a trend in higher crime and theft rates at the end of the year.

“It’s kind of like a full moon kind of a thing, typically the end of the school year we see a higher rate of thefts and other incidents,” said McKinnon.

He warned students to watch their possessions. “Right now we’re going to start seeing, if the students aren’t particularly careful … stuff disappearing on campus. Our theft rate is practically nil in November, December, January.”

The Whitman community has been very supportive of the students. McCarthy and Bain have received many e-mails from students and faculty expressing their support.

This is not the first hate crime experienced by Whitman students this year. A student’s car was vandalized after she performed in the “Vagina Monologues.” There have also been multiple accounts of students having fruit and eggs, among other things, thrown at them from passing cars.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of McCarthy and Bain’s night was the spirit in which the incident occurred. “All we heard was them laughing, and I think they were just, you know, having a weird, fun time?” said Bain. Is this reflective of Whitman-Walla Walla relations?