One of the unfortunate realities in this day and age is the shelter in place order on college campuses when they are reports of a shooter or a criminal. That happened Thursday night at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and it caught two ESPN’ers on campus. There was a report of a suspect inside one of the UMass dorms involved in an armed assault and the university Twitter account quickly went into action reporting on the situation:
ALERT: Hostile armed person reported in Pierpont Hall. UMPD on scene and perimeter secured. Please shelter in place.
— UMass Amherst (@UMassAmherst) February 18, 2016
Jemele Hill and Howard Bryant were taking part in a UMass journalism class taught by ESPN enterprise editor Jena Janovy when they heard about the order and they quickly went onto their Twitter accounts to ask what was going on and to inform their followers about what was going on:
Anyone have any updates on the armed gunman on campus at @UMassAmherst? In @JenaJ34's class with @jemelehill here on lockdown.
— Full Dissident (@hbryant42) February 18, 2016
At @UMassAmherst, where an armed shooter is on campus. In a classroom with the lights off. Damn, the new normal.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) February 18, 2016
We're safe, Wayne. In classroom. Lights out. https://t.co/fVpwwqrxEt
— Full Dissident (@hbryant42) February 18, 2016
Thank you all for the updates and prayers. Haven't been alerted to any shots fired, but everyone has been advised to take shelter.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) February 18, 2016
Both Hill and Bryant inside their classroom for about an hour and a half when the shelter in place order was lifted:
The lockdown was just lifted. We're safe. Thank God https://t.co/GrSFpVgTfH
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) February 19, 2016
There were reports of two suspects on campus, however, it appears that they both left the area and police are still looking for them. More information is expected to be released by UMass later in the day.
It’s always a nervous situation when a shelter in place order is given and people expect the worst. Luckily, the incident did not amount to a shooting, but not knowing made for a scary situation on Thursday night at the Unversity of Massachusetts.
[MassLive]