A report of an armed man on UNC campus led to a brief lockdown on campus Friday before officials determined there was no active threat to the community.
The university’s alert system sent out an initial message Friday morning shortly before 11:45 a.m. warning them of a campus threat. A subsequent message from the university reported an armed and dangerous person is on campus near the Ambulatory Care Center, or ACC. The site, located off South Columbia Street and Mason Farm Road, has been used for COVID-19 testing.
!Alert Carolina! Armed individual near Ambulatory Care Center; shelter in place immediately https://t.co/sLY3gL8DKY
— UNC-Chapel Hill (@UNC) October 30, 2020
During the 38-minute shutdown, authorities encouraged everyone to lock their doors and remain inside until notified otherwise by Alert Carolina messages. UNC’s Alert Carolina emergency alert system shared an all clear message at 12:21 p.m.
Later on Friday, UNC clarified there was no active threat on campus. The university detailed how a 911 call to Orange County at 11:31 a.m. led to law enforcement arriving on scene at 11:34 a.m. The Alert Carolina system was used shortly afterward “out of an abundance of caution” despite no immediate confirmation of an armed individual being present. After an evacuation of the buildings, several sweeps by police and a review of security footage of the Ambulatory Care Center, the all clear alert was sent to campus community members.
Additionally, an unspent bullet found on the scene by a News & Observer reporter was determined to belong to a law enforcement officer responding to the call. The university confirmed there is no evidence of an armed individual having been at the Ambulatory Care Center.
Call audio provided to Chapelboro by Orange County reveals a caller contacted 911 and said they believed to have seen someone enter the ACC with “an automatic weapon in his hand.” Later in the call, the caller said they had not heard any shots fired and questioned whether what they saw was actually a firearm.
“It looked like a weapon as we passed him,” the caller said in the 911 audio. “But after he [walked] inside the hospital, I don’t see anyone exiting, running fast or anything like that.”
Chapel Hill Town Manager Maurice Jones later sent an email to the mayor and town council shortly after the all clear message was given. He wrote a 911 call was made at 11:30 from someone reporting a person with a rifle entering the ACC. Jones told the Chapel Hill elected officials after two sweeps of the building by police, however, authorities “did not encounter any victims or signs of a shooter.”
George Battle, Vice Chancellor of Institutional Integrity and Risk Management, shared comments with the university’s release about the full incident on Friday afternoon.
“I am grateful for the quick response of UNC Police, UNC Hospital Police and our town and county law enforcement partners,” said Battle. “They were on the scene within minutes of the dispatch and responded with thoroughness and great professionalism.”
The full UNC release on Friday’s law enforcement response at the Ambulatory Care Center can be found here.
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