A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty member was fatally shot during a shooting at the university Monday, officials said.
After UNC campus police issued an alert stating that there was an “armed and dangerous person on or near campus” at 1:03 p.m. on Monday, causing a campus lockdown, Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz said in a press briefing that the incident at Caudill Laboratories left one of its faculty members dead.
“I am grieved to report that one of our faculty members was killed in this shooting,” Guskiewicz said.
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UNC Chief of Police Brian James confirmed that a suspect is in custody following the incident. He said that the suspect’s name would not be released since formal charges have not been filed.
According to James, the suspect was apprehended at 2:31 p.m. Although campus police had shared a photo of a person of interest earlier in the day, they did not confirm whether that was the person who was taken into custody.
The university sent out an all-clear notice at 4:14 p.m. and lifted its shelter-in-place order at 4:26 p.m. James added that Caudill Laboratories will remain closed until further notice “as evidence is being processed” while the investigation continues.
“We want to ensure that we gather every piece of evidence to determine exactly what happened here today and why it happened,” he said, adding that it is too early to determine a motive for the shooting.
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James said the identity of the deceased faculty member would not be released at this time as officials are “working to contact all of this person’s family and will be providing them with support and resources.”
“This is the only fatality, and no other injuries were reported,” James said.
According to UNC’s latest alert on Monday, the university will operate “at a Condition 2” on Tuesday.
“Due to today’s incident on campus, UNC-Chapel Hill will operate at a Condition 2 on Tuesday, Aug. 29. This means that classes are canceled, and non-mandatory operations are suspended,” the update read, adding that more information is expected to be provided soon.
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UNC-Chapel Hill Campus.
Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty
In a campus-wide email and message posted on the university’s website, Guskiewicz wrote that he was “devastated and saddened” by the shooting.
“This shooting damages the trust and safety that we so often take for granted on our campus. We will work to rebuild that trust and safety,” he wrote. “Our hearts are with the family of our fellow faculty member, those who are personally connected to the victim and those traumatized by this senseless act of violence.”
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“This is a tragic way to start a new semester and the state will provide any assistance to support the UNC community,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper wrote in a statement.
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Source: HIS Education