John Bogdan was a 54-year-old man at the time of interview, which took place in the Police and Facilities Management building at UNC Charlotte. He was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia in 1965. He was educated at Virginia Commonwealth University, Webster University, where he earned an M.A. in Business and Security Management, and attended the National Defense University, graduating with an M.S. in National Security Strategy. Colonel Bogdan rose within the ranks of the United States Military, working as the Director of Nuclear Security Operations in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, Serving as a Battalion Commander in Germany and Iraq, the Chief of Operations for the Office of the Provost Marshal General at the Pentagon, and as Detention Operations Executive at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
John Bogdan, Associate Vice Chancellor for Safety and Security, shares his personal account of working to manage the campus emergency response to the April 30th shooting, while headquartered in the Police and Facilities Management building on UNC Charlotte's campus. Colonel Bogdan describes his background in emergency operations and how he came to be employed with the University only a year before the shooting occurred. Colonel Bogdan describes in detail the decisions which were made in the hours after the shooting was reported, and aid that was received from Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department, Mecklenburg EMS services (Medic), Charlotte Douglas International Airport and other city entities. Colonel Bogdan describes lessons learned from managing the campus lockdown and speaks to the future possibility of establishing a hot zone that would be cleared prior to lifting a lockdown. He acknowledges that the teamwork of emergency services, campus police and others, led to the shooter being in custody and the campus locked down in around seven minutes- an extraordinary feat for a campus as large as UNC Charlotte. Colonel Bogdan ends the interview by discussing his thoughts on how best to remember an event as tragic as a campus shooting.
