By Devon M. Sayers and Eric Levenson | CNN
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 – a shooting that prompted people to shelter in place for hours as police investigated.
Shots were reported fired at 1:02 p.m. ET at the school’s Caudill Laboratories, and a suspect was taken into custody shortly after 2:30 p.m., Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said.
The names of the faculty member and the suspect were not immediately released. It was too early to know a motive for the shooting, UNC Police Chief Brian James said Monday evening.
“We really want to know the ‘why’ in this case and what led to it,” James said.
The school had issued an alert to students telling them to shelter in place at about 1 p.m., later adding a suspect was at large. The university then issued an “all clear” late in the afternoon.
During the alert period, university police advised 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.
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.
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.