(Photo: The Reflector student newspaper)
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Mississippi State University officials say the school’s police force arrested a freshman after he made threats to kill himself and others that sparked a campus lockdown Thursday. However, authorities said they found no gun and believed no shots were ever fired.
“The university received what we believed to be a credible threat,” MSU spokesman Sid Salter said, explaining why the university issued an alert for an “active shooter.” He said officials didn’t want to wait to issue an alert until someone was injured.
That threat prompted a campus alert at the 20,000-student university just after 10 a.m., prompting students, faculty and staff to lock themselves into offices and classrooms. The freshman was arrested a short time later in front of McCool Hall on the Drill Field, the quadrangle at the heart of campus.
“It was very tense, everyone was very nervous,” said Corey, who has worked at MSU since 2008. “It was difficult to accept the reality that this was happening in front of us.”
The campus remained nervous after the arrest, though, with rumors of additional threats circulating online. Corey said he saw students running and hiding even after the all-clear was issued.
“A lot of students are kind of wandering around in a daze, talking on their cellphones to their loved ones,” he said.
