Campus Alert Archive
UW

Two Weeks Before Virginia Tech: The Stalking Murder of Rebecca Griego in Gould Hall

WAdomestic violenceadvisorymedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On the morning of Monday, April 2, 2007 — exactly fourteen days before the Virginia Tech massacre — Rebecca Jane Griego, 26, program coordinator in the Department of Urban Design and Planning, was shot and killed in room 442 of Gould Hall at the University of Washington by 41-year-old Jonathan Rowan, a former boyfriend who had been stalking her for months. Rowan then turned the revolver on himself. Griego had filed a petition for a protection order in King County Superior Court, but the order had not been served on Rowan, who had no fixed address. The case prompted a $13,000 state fine against UW for failing to notify the broader campus and led to a permanent crime victim advocate position within UW Police.

Alerts
3
Response
—
Killed
1
Injured
0
Institution
University of Washington
Public R1 · WA
~42,000 studentsUW Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Approximate reconstruction405 chars
Members of the University of Washington community are advised that there has been a shooting in Gould Hall. The University of Washington Police Department is on the scene. Persons in Gould Hall and adjacent buildings should remain in place. The shooting is believed to be an isolated incident involving a single individual known to the victim. Further information will be provided as it becomes available.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

UW in April 2007 had a limited email notification system but no SMS-based mass notification; UW Alert SMS would not be deployed until September 26, 2007, in part as a response to Virginia Tech
Per UW News, the university's emergency managers posted the first notification at 10:25 AM PDT, but it went out to only about 300 people, mostly administrators — a key failure mode highlighted in subsequent state findings
The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries later cited UW for failing to communicate the threat to Griego's coworkers, even though Griego herself had warned multiple colleagues that Rowan was dangerous
Gould Hall houses the College of Built Environments, including the Department of Urban Design and Planning where Griego worked as program coordinator (room 442, her fourth-floor office, was the scene of the shooting)
UPDATEEmail
Approximate reconstruction448 chars
The University regrets to confirm that Rebecca Griego, a staff member in the Department of Urban Design and Planning, has been killed in a shooting in Gould Hall. The shooter, a former acquaintance of Ms. Griego, has also died. There is no continuing threat to the campus. Counseling services are available through the Counseling Center at Schmitz Hall. The University extends its deepest sympathies to Ms. Griego's family, friends, and colleagues.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Rebecca Griego, 26, was a 2004 UW graduate who had returned to the university as a program coordinator in 2006
Jonathan Rowan, 41, was wanted on a warrant for an ongoing drunken-driving case and had eluded immigration officials with an expired 90-day visa for years
Rowan's body was found in a stairwell shortly after Griego's; he had killed himself with the same weapon
FOLLOW-UPWebsite
Verified verbatimJoint statement from the Griego family and UW President Mark Emmert, reproduced verbatim in University of Washington Magazine and HistoryLink419 chars
Two families lost a dearly beloved member this week -- the family and friends of Rebecca Griego, and our University family, of which Rebecca was a cherished member. Much attention has been focused on the terrible event that occurred earlier this week in an effort to understand what happened. It is important to do so, but it is also important not to lose sight of Rebecca and the gifts she brought to all who knew her.
This was an unusual jointly issued statement — Mark Emmert co-signed with the victim's family rather than issuing a separate institutional message
The phrase 'Two families' was a deliberate framing that incorporated the university into the Griego family's grief
Emmert was UW president from 2004 to 2010; this was his first major presidential statement on a campus death
The statement was distributed through UW News and reposted in University of Washington Magazine
Context

Background

The murder of Rebecca Jane Griego on April 2, 2007 occurred fourteen days before the Virginia Tech shooting and is one of the most cited examples of pre-Virginia Tech, post-Clery campus emergency communication. Griego, 26, was a UW alumna and program coordinator in the Department of Urban Design and Planning who had been stalked for months by Jonathan Rowan, a 41-year-old former boyfriend with a long criminal record and no fixed address. Griego had warned colleagues, written down Rowan's photograph for circulation in her department, and obtained a protection order through King County Superior Court — but the order had not been served on Rowan, who was effectively transient. On the morning of April 2, Rowan entered Gould Hall and shot Griego in her fourth-floor office, then walked into a stairwell and killed himself. The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries later fined UW $13,000 for failing to provide adequate workplace-level threat communication. UW responded by creating a permanent Crime Victim Advocate position within the UW Police Department in 2008, and the Washington Legislature changed the state's protection-order service law. The UW Alert SMS system, deployed later in 2007 in part as a response to Virginia Tech, would not have changed the immediate facts of the Griego case but would have allowed more comprehensive notification to colleagues and the wider campus.
Analysis

Key Findings

The Griego murder occurred fourteen days before the Virginia Tech shooting and is one of the cleanest examples of how a major research university communicated about a fatal targeted incident in the immediate pre-Virginia Tech window
The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries' $13,000 fine against UW was levied not under the Clery Act but under workplace safety law, and reframed how universities thought about staff-level threat communication
Griego's failed protection order against a transient stalker prompted a change in Washington state law on protection-order service
The case directly produced the first dedicated Crime Victim Advocate position within a major U.S. university police department
Outcome
Both Griego and Rowan died at the scene. Washington State Department of Labor and Industries fined UW $13,000 for failing to provide adequate workplace safety notification to Griego's colleagues. The case prompted a change in Washington state law on the service of protection orders against transient subjects, and UW created a permanent crime victim advocate position within the UW Police Department in Griego's memory.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Source
    Rebecca Griego is killed on the University of Washington campus on April 2, 2007 - HistoryLink
    historylink.org
  2. Source
    Months of stalking end with 2 dead at UW - Seattle Times
    seattletimes.com
  3. Source
    UW staffer killed by stalker - Seattle Times
    seattletimes.com
  4. Official
    UWPD's crime victim advocate honors the memory of Rebecca Griego - UW News
    washington.edu
  5. Source
    Campus slaying results in state fine against UW - Seattle Times
    seattletimes.com
Tags
domestic-violencestalkingmurder-suicideworkplace-violencepre-virginia-techprotection-order2007historicalgould-halluw
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion