Students, faculty and staff at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul were told to shelter in place in their buildings Monday afternoon following reports of an armed man on campus. The shelter-in-place alert, issued shortly before 12:30 p.m., was lifted about an hour later after St. Paul Police determined the subject was not on campus and not in the city of St. Paul.
Officers with the St. Paul Police Department received a report of a man who had called university dispatch stating he was on campus with a gun and was threatening to harm himself. St. Paul Police coordinated with the university’s Public Safety Department to investigate as students and faculty locked classroom doors and gathered in hiding places.
After determining there was no immediate threat on campus, officers “were able to talk to the subject and connect the male with local police in his area to get him the resources he needs,” according to a statement released by Sgt. Toy Vixayvong, a St. Paul Police spokesman.
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The University of St. Thomas enrolls more than 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students and more than 900 faculty in St. Paul, Minneapolis and Rome, with the majority attending classes on the 78-acre St. Paul campus.
Mara Gottfried contributed to this report.