ASU has gunman scare

Campus locked down for 82 minutes

Appalachian State University locked down campus buildings for 82 minutes and canceled classes Monday evening after the reported sighting of a man wearing a dark ski mask and carrying a gun near the campus.

After announcing that no shots had been fired and no injuries had been reported, the university lifted the lockdown at 6:32 p.m. Campus and Boone police planned to remain on alert through the evening, but no further sightings of the alleged gunman were reported after the campus re-opened.

Lynn Drury, associate vice chancellor for university communications, said authorities are still investigating, but they never located a suspect. She said officers were interviewing the person who made the initial report. "There were no shots fired that we can ascertain," she said.

According to the original report, a masked man carrying a small, black gun and wearing a black Pink Floyd T-shirt with a rainbow prism and red-and- green tennis shoes was spotted near Appalachian South Apartments in the Hill Street area.

The university posted frequent updates on its Web site and sent mass e-mail messages to faculty, staff and students, Drury said. There was no hesitation by university officials to order a lockdown on campus, she said.

"I don't think you can be too cautious with the safety and security of your students, faculty and staff," Drury said.

Some students on campus first heard about the reported gunman from parents calling from back home who had seen breaking news reports.

Freshman Robert Cohen of Cary was walking back to his room in Hoey Residence Hall after working out when his mother called his cell phone before 5 p.m.

"When I heard from my parents, I thought they were lying to me," said Cohen, 18. "I came back to my dorm and checked my e-mail. It was kind of freaky."

Other students recounted having their classes interrupted by announcements to stay in class or steer clear of the area where the alleged gunman had been seen.

Junior Alejandro Gonzalez, 22, said that a university representative walked into his macroeconomics class in Raley Hall about 4:35 p.m. to inform students that someone had been spotted carrying a gun on the opposite end of campus.

"She interrupted everything, let us know if we're headed toward that direction not to do it because the whole campus was on lockdown and there was cops all over the place," Gonzalez said in a phone interview. "Once that happened, classes were let out. Everybody that was heading out just got on the bus or got picked up or something but pretty much went in the opposite direction."

Universities prepare

Campuses around North Carolina and the nation have conducted drills to simulate mass shootings since the massacre at Virginia Tech in April and the killings last month at Northern Illinois University.

Elizabeth City State University officials were criticized last week when an undercover officer burst into a classroom with a fake gun and threatened to kill terrified students and a professor.

The university said it had notified the campus about the exercise, but apparently not everyone on campus received the warning. Campus leaders apologized.

In January, UNC-Greensboro held a daylong drill to test law enforcement responses from a mock shooter. The test was held when students were on winter break.