A house at 218 South Seventh Street became the target of an armed arrest on Aug. 27, around 1 p.m. U.S. Marshals took 29-year-old Khalif Levan out of the house with help from the Buffalo Valley Regional Police Department (BVRPD). Levan was wanted for attempted murder in relation to a shooting that took place in the Philadelphia area on Aug. 12. He was staying with an acquaintance.

“I saw multiple police blocking off Seventh Street going both ways from the house. Police had guns out. Public Safety pulled up as I came up and they started talking to one of the cops. What I thought was strange [was] when Public Safety drove up, one of the cops used his car as a shield … Then a guy in handcuffs was taken out,” a University staff member, who wished to remain anonymous, said. 

“The U.S. Marshals gave a courtesy notice to the Buffalo Valley Regional Police Department. Then BVRPD made Public Safety aware very shortly after. But there was no advanced warning. Public Safety responded in time with four officers on the scene … The individual was not armed,” Chief of Public Safety Stephen Barilar said. 

At least one student expressed worry about the lack of information about the arrest.

“Although Levan [sic] is now in police custody, I find it strange and distasteful that the administration kept us in the dark about something so severe,” Yacouba Sidibe ’17 said. 

The Bucknell Student Government (BSG) Executive Board met with Dean of Students Amy Badal on Aug. 31.

“We discuss[ed] how important information is disseminated to the student body and suggested that information regarding [reports] be emailed to the students so that all incidents are documented,” BSG President Alex Rosen ’16 said. 

“Some students were notified about the incident shortly after it occurred. We sent an email to students living in the downtown Lewisburg area detailing the arrest. We communicated to those students specifically because of the proximity of their houses to where the arrest occurred,” Chief Communications Officer Andy Hirsch said.

Dean Badal emailed all students on Sept. 1 detailing the armed arrest and other incidents in the area.

“The statistics sent to me from Chief Yost of BVRPD are similar to last August’s crime statistics … Students are extra cautious now, but students should have been alert years ago. There has been no history at that location. We have extra patrols around the area and we encourage students to call when something happens. We can’t react to things we don’t know are happening,” Barilar said.  

He later expressed that if Public Safety can see a pattern happening in a specific area, they are able to do something about it.

Levan was transported to the Union County Courthouse for arraignment before District Judge Leo Armbruster. No arrest record copy could be obtained from the Union County Courthouse because BVRPD  was not the arresting agency. The subject previously served a brief sentence at Lycoming County Prison for carrying a firearm without a license.