Faculty member fatally shot at University of North Carolina
A suspect was arrested, motive isn’t known and the weapon has not been found, says UNC Police Chief Brian James.
A University of North Carolina faculty member was shot and killed in a campus building, officials said.
A suspect was arrested about an hour and a half after shots were reported, UNC Police Chief Brian James said on Monday at a news conference. Students and faculty at the flagship campus had barricaded themselves in dorm rooms, offices and classrooms for hours until a lockdown was lifted.
“This loss is devastating and the shooting damages the trust and safety that we so often take for granted in our campus community,” UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said. He apologised to students who are "feeling uncertain about your safety right now."
Authorities are not releasing the suspect’s name and formal charges have not yet been filed, James said. It's unclear if the suspect knew the victim, who police have not yet named while they reach out to relatives, James said.
The shooting was in Caudill Laboratories, which is closed while evidence is processed, James said. He said a motive isn’t known and the weapon has not been found.
Emergency sirens sounded about two minutes after a 911 call came in reporting shots fired, James said.
There were no other deaths or injuries, James said.
'An ongoing situation'
About three hours after warning students to seek shelter indoors and avoid windows, the school posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, “All clear. All clear. Resume normal activities.”
The school's first alert was sent out just after 1 pm. At 1:50 pm, officials posted on X that the shelter-in-place order remained in effect and that it was “an ongoing situation.” About 40 minutes later, the school added a post saying: “Remain sheltered in place. This is an ongoing situation. Suspect at large.”
About two hours after the first alert went out, officers were still arriving in droves, with about 50 police vehicles at the scene and multiple helicopters circling over the school.
One officer admonished two people who tried to exit the student center, yelling “Inside, now!” About 10 minutes later, law enforcement escorted a group of students out of one of the science buildings, with everyone walking in an orderly line with their hands up.
Shortly before 4 pm, students and faculty started emerging from campus buildings, with the lockdown over.
The report of the shooting and subsequent lockdown paralysed campus and parts of the surrounding town of Chapel Hill a week after classes began at the state’s flagship public university. The university, with about 20,000 undergraduate students and 12,000 graduate students, canceled Tuesday classes.
During the lockdown, a student told TV station WTVD that she had barricaded her dormitory door with her furniture. Another student, speaking softly, described hiding in fear with others in a dark bathroom.
The nearby Chapel Hill-Carrboro City school district also locked down its schools for several hours as a precaution.