An “All Clear” message rang out across the UNC campus just before 10 o’clock Wednesday morning after spending more than an hour on lockdown.
Police from every faction of local law enforcement surrounded the ROTC Armory on UNC’s campus around 8:30 with guns drawn.
Listen to the full press conference below:
Director of the UNC Department of Public Safety Chief Jeff McCracken said at a press conference that law enforcement received an emergency call reporting a suspect carrying a rifle walking into the ROTC armory at the intersection of South Road and Columbia Street.
“Officers from North Carolina Highway Patrol, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the Carrboro Police Department, Chapel Hill Police Department and the Campus Police Department all responded, searched the area, cleared the NROTC building and were unable to find an assailant,” McCracken said.
McCracked added, “at this time, there is no apparent threat to the campus.”
McCracken says the initial call came in around 8:22. Just before nine o’clock the Alert Carolina sirens blared on campus with a recorded message telling students to go inside due to an armed dangerous person being on campus.
The 911 caller said:
“I saw two women run out of the ROTC armory building. They told me, ‘please call 911, there’s a man with a rifle.'”
McCracken said the sirens were sounded out of “an abundance of caution to keep the campus inside while the police department determined what was happening.”
Police made a perimeter around the ROTC building during the investigation, blocking off Columbia Street and several other roadways encouraging motorists to avoid the area.
McCracken said the ROTC building is always locked and does contain active and inactive “parade rifles.”
An all clear message was issued to the campus just before 9:20.
McCracken said going forward UNC DPS will be leading the investigation and speaking with the caller who placed the 911 call.
He said he is happy someone called 911 if they felt there was an incident that needed investigation.
“Anytime anybody sees any suspicious activity, behavior, anything that gives them concern, we ask them to please call so we can investigate,” McCracken said. “If it turns out to be nothing, that’s great. But we’d rather err on the side of caution.”
McCracken said, even though no threat was found, “I don’t think given the circumstances that have occurred across the country [the police response] would be considered an overreaction.”
McCracken said an internal review will be conducted to evaluate police response to the emergency call.
A second incident was reported just after 10 o’clock when gunshots were heard near campus, but there was no threat associated with that call, according to officials. They say a resident who lives near campus was shooting at a bird with an air rifle.
