No gunman at University of North Carolina after alert; police cite mass shootings in response

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – An anonymous call about a gunman entering an ROTC building at the University of North Carolina prompted a campus-wide alert Wednesday morning, but an all-clear notice quickly followed after police found no threats at the nation’s oldest public university.

Sirens warned students and faculty to shelter in place about 8:45 a.m., resulting in closed streets and disrupted campus activities for less than an hour. The all-clear message was issued less than an hour later. A search found no gunman, campus Police Chief Jeff McCracken said.

The mass shootings on campuses and elsewhere around the United States factored into the police response and campus alert, McCracken said.

“I don’t think given the circumstances that have occurred across the country, it would be considered an overreaction,” he said. “We don’t have any way of knowing exactly what we’re dealing with until we begin to investigate.”

Someone called 911 reporting a rifle-toting man about 8:20 a.m. At that time, the doors to the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps building were locked, McCracken said. The only rifles stored in the building are inoperable and used for drill or military ceremonies, campus spokesman Jim Gregory said.

Police were seeking the caller to gather more information, McCracken said.

Campus police received a second report of a gunman after the all-clear, but that turned out to be a homeowner shooting an air rifle on his property near campus, McCracken said.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is the flagship of UNC’s 16 college and one residential high school campuses.

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