Authorities confirmed on Monday that a faculty member was killed in a fatal shooting that prompted the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (UNC) and the surrounding community to be placed under lockdown orders. The gunman is in police custody.
UNC Police Chief Brian James told reporters that no charges have been filed in the case as investigators are continuing to determine the "how" and the "why" of the incident. A motive and whether the gunman knew the faculty remains uncertain.
James further indicated that officials are looking for a firearm, which they are unsure whether it was legally registered.
The first alert of an armed and dangerous person on campus was issued by the university at 1:04 p.m. local time - two minutes after shots were initially heard near a laboratory on campus. A subsequent message at 2:24 p.m. announced a shelter-in-place order as the reported gunman was said to be at-large. An all-clear was issued by 4:14 p.m. by officials after the suspect went into police custody at 2:31 p.m.
Campus police earlier released a photo of a person of interest and warned the public to steer clear of the individual but have not yet offered any additional details regarding the person.
Photos from the scene showed dozens of police cruisers on the scene as helicopters were reported to be monitoring the area from the skies.
One video appeared to captured the moment that a suspect was taken into custody
Another video captured the moment as some students jumped from windows to get away from the campus after getting word of initial active shooter reports.
Kelly Kendall, a student at UNC-Chapel Hill, told a local news station that many students are in shock and are unsure how they intend to proceed with the school year, which only just came underway on August 21.
"The feeling is just shock ... it’s certainly a shocking feeling seeing how the situation can change so fast and place we love and feel safe at," Kendall said, adding that many are scared to leave buildings.
"In terms of going back to normal, I'm just not sure how quickly that is going to happen."
Classes are scheduled to resume on Thursday.
With a student body of 20,000 undergraduate students and 12,000 in the graduate program, complaints have been voiced by the student body over the university's alert system, specifically over a lack of details.
An investigation into the Monday incident remains ongoing.