KU News Release

Police complete search; no evidence of threat

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Public Safety Office completed a comprehensive search in and around Wescoe Hall this morning in response to what was eventually determined to be an unconfirmed report of a man carrying a rifle on campus.

E-mail and broadcast voice mail alerts were sent to notify the campus community of the report and ongoing police search. Campus was never put on lockdown, but those in the central campus area were advised to stay indoors until further notice. A second e-mail was sent after the search ended. Delivery of the first e-mail alert was slowed by maintenance that happened to be under way on the university’s computer network at the time. The second e-mail was delivered to 37,000 e-mail addresses within six minutes. There were no classes in session. Summer classes begin Tuesday. Everyone on campus is advised to return to normal operations.

KU police were assisted in their response by the Lawrence Police Department and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department. Officers were on scene within three minutes of the call to police, which was made at 9:15 a.m.

The university is in the process of developing a text messaging system for emergencies. Students, staff and faculty may go to the KU home page, where an “emergency contact” link will take users to a secure Web site. They can log-in using their university ID to provide a cell phone number and provider as well as primary emergency contacts, updated phone numbers and addresses.

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The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.