UNC Carolina shooter – updates: Suspect arrested after faculty member killed during Chapel Hill shooting

A gunman killed a faculty member in a science building at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, forcing the college to temporarily go into a lockdown.

Police arrested the suspect over three hours after the initial reports of shots fired came in from Caudill Labs, officials said at a news conference.

Emergency sirens were sounded about two minutes after a 911 caller reported gunfire around 1pm at the laboratory in the heart of the flagship campus.

The students and faculty members reportedly barricaded themselves in dorm rooms, offices and classrooms until the lockdown was lifted around 4.15pm.

“This loss is devastating, and the shooting damages the trust and safety that we so often take for granted in our campus community,” chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said.

Students went so far as to jump out of windows to flee an active shooter on the campus of the University of North Carolina.

WRAL captured the chaos in this video.

A shooting on the campus of the University of North Carolina set off chaos as students sought to flee after getting an emergency alert on their phones. “I rushed outside assuming that would be the best location since they would most likely target larger crowds since I was in a large lecture of maybe 250–300 people,” one student told Fox News. “Once I went outside, I saw people running in the direction of the Genome Science building. I decided to take the corner and investigate to see what was going on.

“One of my friends worked with him in the chemistry lab. However, he graduated this past year and was not [there]. Overall, it was extremely unexpected. I would always see stuff in the news but never expected to see things like this in person first-hand taking place,” the student added.

“I am devastated by today’s shooting in one of our campus buildings, a place where we conduct our important work of teaching, mentoring, and research every day,” Chancellor Kevin M Guskiewicz said in a statement on Monday. “This shooting damages the trust and safety that we so often take for granted on our campus.”

The individual was the only person injured in the shooting, police said.

School officials say they will not release the name of the dead faculty member until their next of kin have been notified.

More details in our full story.

A UNC student who knew the man arrested for Monday’s shooting said he was stunned to learn his colleague was wanted for allegedly fatally shooting a faculty member.

“I would have never guessed that he would be the kind of person who could possibly be capable of this kind of thing,” graduate student Aiden Scott told WRAL. “He was always very quiet.”

“Every single time he would talk to me, he seemed very nice. When I saw his face in the reports online, I was beyond shocked.”

Police have not formally named the suspect, though his name has been published in local media sources.

Jeremy Fine, who is studying medicine and mental health police at UNC, told ABC 11 he has lived through three active shooter events in his lifetime.

“This is the the third time in my life I’ve with something like this, and I’ve gotta say it’s probably the scariest time,” he said.

He and a group of students and faculty hid in a men’s bathroom for hours until they got the all-clear.

The MD-PhD student also told the station he’s tired of the media and policymakers blaming shootings on severe mental illness, noting that only a small fraction of those who commit shootings have a diagnosed mental health disorder.

“It moves us backwards.”

Instead, he argued, the focus should be put on access to guns and health care.

Officials say they are still searching for the weapon used in today’s shooting at Caudill Labs. UNC Police Chief Brian James said it’s “too early” to know whether the gun was purchased legally.

Police did not elaborate on the suspect’s connection to the dead faculty member.

“We certainly want an opportunity to interview the suspect if that’s possible and to actually have the suspect in custody gives us an opportunity to figure out the why and even the how,” Chief James continued. “It also helps us to uncover a motive and really why this happened today. Why today, why at all? We want to learn from this incident.”

Police say they are confident they’ve apprehended the suspect responsible for Monday’s shooting, but aren’t releasing his name until formal charges are filed.

“We are sure that it’s him,” UNC police chief Brian James said at a press conference on Monday. “We were able to verify that.”

Earlier in the day, officials released a photo of the man.

The FBI is assisting local police as they investigate a campus shooting at the University of North Carolina that left one faculty member dead on Monday.

UNC police said during a press conference on Monday that a faculty member was killed in the shooting.

“The students are certainly traumatised,” UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin M Guskiewicz said. “But I want to commend those who were inside the building ensuring everyone’s safety.”

An unnamed suspect was arrested near a residential area 10 minutes away from campus, but the weapon used in the shooting has yet to be recovered.

Local police are searching a residence on William Circle, WRAL reported.

“Please know that support is available and [we[ stand ready to help,” Mr Guskiewicz said in a statement, also thanking authorities for their swift response.

All classes have been cancelled for the rest of the day.