A liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine went into lockdown on Saturday morning after a shot was fired in a student housing complex. The shot was reportedly fired during a “massive annual party”, ABC News reported.
Preliminary reports from the spot say that no students were hurt during the altercation that followed at the Alfond Senior Apartments on the campus.
The institution, in an official statement, said that the police are continuing to look for individuals involved in the firing. Police did not perceive imminent danger to the campus community, but asked students to stay in place throughout the night out of an abundance of caution, it added.
An email sent to the college’s student body by interim Dean of the College Barbara Moore said the Waterville Police Department “have a person in custody who attended events there and fired a gun.”
“We urge you to shelter in place until we have additional information that the campus is entirely safe, college’s interim Dean reportedly wrote.
Landon Kissell, an 18-year-old freshman from Manhasset, New York, said he left campus by car “just to play it 100 per cent safe” about five minutes after receiving a message about the incident at 1:49 AM.
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“We have an open campus so there is not any security to stop anyone from entering or leaving campus so I was able to just drive right out,” Kissell told the Associated Press in a social media direct message, adding that he stayed in communication with his friends on campus.
“It was more at first just a state of confusion where nobody understood what was going on. There were different rumors swirling immediately of what was actually happening,” he said.
(With inputs from agencies)
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