CNN
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[Breaking news update, published at 5:58 p.m. ET]
A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty member was fatally shot on campus on Monday afternoon, and a suspect is in custody, a school official said.
[Original story, published at 4:24 p.m. ET]
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill issued an “all clear” on Monday afternoon, hours after police responded to an “armed and dangerous person on or near campus,” the university said.
The all clear alert came after police sent an alert to students telling them to shelter in place at about 1 p.m., later adding there was a suspect at large.
UNC Police said they were searching for a “person of interest” and advised people to keep their distance from him. It was not clear why the person was being sought.
University police advised all students to go inside immediately, close windows and doors and to wait until further notice, according to an email. A witness on campus told CNN they were locked down in their building and saw armed officers searching campus.
The extent of the situation was not clear. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper referred to it as a “shooting” in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. He said he has “pledged all state resources needed to capture the shooter and protect the UNC campus.”
A law enforcement source told CNN federal law enforcement responded to the scene but has no information about anyone being shot. The UNC Hospital also has received no patients from the scene, a spokesperson told CNN.
Video from CNN affiliate WRAL in Chapel Hill showed a large number of police vehicles at the campus with their lights flashing. At times, people walked out of nearby buildings in a single-file line with their arms in the air.
At just after 3:30 p.m., groups of students were casually walking along the sidewalk, the video shows. Chapel Hill-Carrboro city schools have received an “all clear” from the authorities, according to a post at 3:40 p.m. on the district’s website.
A spokesperson for the university declined to comment further on the incident. Calls to the Town of Chapel Hill were not immediately returned.
This is the second week of the fall semester at the school. The university has a student body population of about 32,000, along with more than 4,000 faculty and 9,000 staff members.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
