Shots rang out near Northwestern University’s Evanston campus Sunday night, rattling the campus community before police announced an all clear.
An initial message sent to the university community about 10:53 p.m. said there was an “active threat” on campus. Students, staff and faculty were instructed to “run, hide, fight.”
Shortly after 11 p.m., campus police were on the scene near 70 Arts Circle Drive — near the Bienen School of Music — investigating the reports, according to university officials. Around 11:44 p.m., police confirmed that no injuries were reported and issued an all clear.
Upon arrival, police found bullet casings, the university said in a statement Monday. No suspects are in custody, but police are investigating.
“We recognize that situations like this cause concern and fear within our community. Please know that your safety is our top priority,” the university said in the statement.
Ben Lankfer, a senior at Northwestern, said he was walking along the lake by the School of Music when he saw four or five police cars pull up to the area. Lankfer said he then got the alert about an active threat.
“I never heard actual gunshots, I just saw all the police cars arrived there,” he said. “I knew I needed to get home.”
As he walked home with sirens blaring behind him, Lankfer, 22, said he got messages from a group chat about shots being fired.
“Your mind automatically goes to the worst thing possible,” he said.
Lankfer recalled being at Clark Street Beach, just east of Northwestern’s campus, last April when a man was killed, and two 15-year-old boys were injured in a shooting there. Sunday’s shooting brought the memories back.
“That one was a lot more scary because that one everyone did explicitly hear the gunshots and were screaming ‘shooter,’ and people were running,” he said. “But that same feeling was in the back of my head.”
Mirabella Johnson, a senior at Northwestern, said via email that she had left Norris University Center, near the music school, and was headed home when she got the active threat alert.
Alone at her off-campus apartment, she turned off the lights, locked her door and checked the Northwestern Class of 2024 group chat, she said.
“In my opinion ... Northwestern is simply lucky that no student or staff member has been shot or killed in any of these recent on-campus instances,” she said. “None of this is normal.”
In November, a similar message was sent out after a shot was fired outside the university’s Wieboldt Hall on its downtown campus.
Contributing: Catherine Odom and Isabel Funk
