A university in upstate New York was on lock down for nearly six hours after someone called into the school with a ‘real, credible’ threat.
Utica College was put on lock down after receiving two phone calls to the Gordon Center at around 11am on Monday that threatened to ‘take some sort of action.’
The man on the phone allegedly told police he had a gun and to ‘come and get me,’ according to the student newspaper The Tangerine.
The lock down was lifted at about 5pm, according to a tweet from the school, and all students and faculty were told they could either return to the school or collect their belongings.
Law enforcement is going to remain on campus for the rest of the evening to continue the investigation, school officials said.
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Utica College was put on lock down after receiving two phone calls to the Gordon Center at around 11am on Monday that threatened to ‘take some sort of action’ The lock down was lifted at about 5pm, according to a tweet from the school, and all students and faculty were told they could either return to the school or collect their belongings
Utica College was put on lock down after receiving two phone calls to the Gordon Center at around 11am on Monday that threatened to ‘take some sort of action’
The lock down was lifted at about 5pm, according to a tweet from the school, and all students and faculty were told they could either return to the school or collect their belongings
Utica first issued a notice of the lockdown at around 11am on Monday, just after receiving the threatening call.
No shots were fired and there were no reported injuries, the school tweeted at around noon on Monday.
Police also have not apprehended any suspects.
The calls were from an individual who stated he was armed with a weapon, according to the City of Utica’s Police Department.
Everyone on campus was asked to stay sheltered and in one place until the threat has been lifted or they could be evacuated by police.
Additionally, all afternoon and evening classes and sporting or extracurricular events have been cancelled for the rest of the day.
The calls were from an individual who stated he was armed with a weapon, according to the City of Utica’s Police Department
A video posted by a student who was in a locked-down classroom at Utica College posted a video to Twitter of the moment a SWAT team entered and checked the room.
Officers in Kevlar vests can be seen entering the classroom and ask all of the students to put their unzipped bags onto the front desk so they can be checked.
Utica City Schools and New York Mills Union Free School District were both placed on precautionary lookout because of the threat, reported WJLA.
The school sent out alerts and tweets throughout the afternoon to keep students and staff up to date on the status of the threat.
At least one person tweeted that he is a student on the campus and could hear sirens from the area he was hiding out.
The school is located about 50 miles from Syracuse and has roughly 3,500 students.