Temporary lockdown at Edinboro University for off-campus shooting

Edinboro University in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, was locked down for about six hours last night while police searched for a gunman in the surrounding area following an off-campus shooting.

“Emergency lock-down effective immediately,” the university posted on Facebook. “All residence halls, academic buildings, and campus facilities are to be locked down. All doors secured until further. Please stay inside behind locked doors until otherwise notified.”

The lockdown was lifted last night although police are still searching for the alleged gunman, who is said to have shot a person identified only as male in his 20s.

“The university responded when it became clear that the alleged shooter was still at large,” university spokesman Jeffrey Hileman told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We ordered a lockdown of our campus out of an abundance of caution to assure the safety of our students, faculty, staff and visitors.”

“We do have procedures in place, and our emergency response team — which includes the university’s executive leadership as well as our safety and police leaders — we’ve all been working through the evening and will continue to work as long as necessary to monitor the situation and make the decisions on how to respond.

“We have a text-messaging system and it also emails students and posts to social media. We also put an alert on our campus cable TV station.”

While the campus was locked down police provided armed escort from campus buildings to their residences.

“The lockdown of campus was ordered out of an abundance of caution and a commitment to the safety of students, faculty, staff and visitors, even though the suspect was not on campus,” said University President Julie E. Wollman. “Your patience and cooperation while occupants were systematically escorted from nonresidential buildings was vital to keeping everyone safe.

“Today, our University Police will remain on heightened alert, but local police who are investigating the crime believe there is no reason to curtail our normal activity. Classes and other University operations will continue as usual.”

The university has opened up a counseling center for students affected by the shooting.

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