The American University lockdown Wednesday night was caused by an off-duty police officer who brought his gun onto campus while visiting his girlfriend, the university confirmed.
The Washington, D.C. school was on lockdown for approximately an hour and a half after the campus police department recieved a report of a man with a gun. At 9:25 p.m., the university reported that the lockdown had been lifted and a suspect was in custody.
It is unclear if the suspect and the off-duty police officer are the same person. During the lockdown, the university had distributed a photograph of two suspects — a male and a female.
AU released the following statement at 10:32 p.m. Wednesday:
At approximately 7:55 p.m,. American University Public Safety received a citizen's report of a man with a gun on an AU shuttle bus. An AU emergency alert was sent immediately putting the campus on lockdown while Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and AU Public Safety investigated. A photo was distributed by AU Public Safety which brought several leads and eventual identification of the individuals in the photo.
No crime was committed. MPD confirms that one of the individuals in the photo is an off-duty police officer. The individual in question is not an AU Public Safety officer.
"American University thanks the entire AU community for their cooperation during this incident. Every student is safe tonight. In this case, someone saw something and said something. The system worked," said Camille Lepre, assistant vice president of communication.
About 15 minutes before the lockdown was lifted, the female suspect confirmed over Twitter that she and her boyfriend — the off-duty police officer — were the ones featured in the photograph being distributed. The woman also confirmed that she is an AU student and her boyfriend is an AU graduate who was visiting her on campus:
@ohai_its_eli My boyfriend is a police officer. He is supposed to have his weapon off duty. He also has his BADGE on him.
— Tori Ravenel (@ToriRavenel) December 12, 2013
@Tenleyeti I am a student at AU. Colin graduated from AU in 2012. He was visiting because he's a sweetie. :)
— Tori Ravenel (@ToriRavenel) December 12, 2013
Many AU students were studying for finals at the time of the lockdown and shared photos on Twitter of the packed library:
Students still waiting for any news on the suspects. Police continues to search AU premises #AUlockdown pic.twitter.com/IKYDbEIN3j
— Rafael C. Chapman (@rcchapman) December 12, 2013
Join the conversation about this story »
