‘All Clear’ Given at UNC After Reports of Person With a Gun

Update: 2:18 p.m.

Just over an hour after UNC officials sent out their second alert in three weeks of an “armed and dangerous” person on campus, police gave the all clear and told students they could resume normal activities.

!Alert Carolina!
All clear. All clear. Resume normal activities. https://t.co/sLY3gL8DKY

— UNC-Chapel Hill (@UNC) September 13, 2023

The first alert went out at 12:54 p.m. and warned anyone on campus to go inside immediately, lock the doors, stay away from the windows and shelter in place.

The Daily Tar Heel, the student paper that won wide acclaim for its coverage of the August shooting that killed professor Zijie Yan, reported Wednesday afternoon that someone brandished a gun at an employee of Alpine Bagel on campus. No shots were fired, the DTH said. The News and Observer reported that police made an arrest, but did not name the suspect.

School officials announced that classes were canceled for the rest of the day. There have been four Wednesdays so far in the fall semester. Two of them have seen classes canceled because of gun violence.

The second alarm comes as students are still reeling from the first.

They spent three hours in lockdown on Aug. 28, just the second week of classes, with little official information and growing rumors of mass casualties, multiple shooters and assailants dressed as police officers.

Students from across North Carolina held a rally on Tuesday to warn lawmakers that the ‘lockdown generation’ would vote them out of office without meaningful action on guns. 

This post will be updated.

Update: 1:44 p.m.

Muhsin Mahmoud, a British journalist who captured the moment of lockdown last time, published videos on Twitter on Wednesday showing students leaving a cafeteria and police officers arriving on campus.

“Students are running away from campus and so am I. Again, another situation just like two weeks ago,” he says on one video.

Update: 1:49 p.m.

Just like last time, Chapel Hill/ Carrboro Schools are also on lockdown. ”

“All CHCCS schools have been advised to enter ‘Secure Mode’ which means the doors will be locked, people are not allowed in or out, & classroom instruction can continue normally inside,” the school district Tweeted.

“Stay close to your phone & email for updates as we monitor this new & ongoing situation.”

Update: 1:56 p.m.

Some social posts from UNC faculty and staff:

Can we also take time to acknowledge the fucking irony in being sent a “rate us on how we responded to the first shooting!!!” email from #unc literally 12 minutes before we got an alert about another armed shooting pic.twitter.com/2Y1MQjM4ZV

— mady clahane (@madyclahane) September 13, 2023

I'm safe and locked down in Park Library. I saw students running away from the middle of campus out of the window of the library a few minutes before sirens went off.

Twice in the first month of classes. https://t.co/Mk3sHGyIkY

— Ethan Horton (@ethanehorton1) September 13, 2023

Another campus shooting @UNC and I am locked down with the same students I was with when this happened two weeks ago.

— Katherine Turk (@KatherineLTurk) September 13, 2023