Norman (US): A report of shots fired sent dozens of police cars to the University of Oklahoma Friday night and the campus was locked down for nearly two hours before authorities said no threat was found.
At about 9:30 pm, people were told to shelter in place and avoid the South Oval area of the sprawling campus in Norman. The university tweeted: There is an active shooter at the Van Vleet Oval. Take immediate action now. Run. Hide. Fight! However, the university later said only that police were investigating possible shots fired.
Dozens of patrol cars from various agencies, including the Highway Patrol, converged on the campus along with ambulances and an armoured vehicle. Officers with flashlights spread out as they searched the area. Shortly before 11 p.m., university police issued an all clear, tweeting: After a thorough search, no threat was found. There is no threat to campus. Alert has been cancelled. No injuries were reported. Additional information was not immediately available.
In a separate incident from Last month, a former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, armed with two "assault-style" weapons and a handgun after elaborately planning the massacre by drawing out a detailed map and conducting surveillance of the building, police said.
The massacre at The Covenant School in Nashville was the latest in a series of mass shootings in a country that has grown increasingly unnerved by bloodshed in schools. The victims included three 9-year-old children, the school's top administrator, a substitute teacher and a custodian.
Amid the chaos a familiar ritual played out: Panicked parents rushed to the school to see if their children were safe and tearfully hugged their kids, and a stunned community planned vigils for the victims. "I was literally moved to tears to see this and the kids as they were being ushered out of the building," Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake said Monday during one of several news conferences.
Police gave unclear information on the gender of the shooter. For hours, police identified the shooter as a 28-year-old woman and eventually identified the person as Audrey Hale. Then at a late afternoon press conference, the police chief said that Hale was transgender. After the news conference, police spokesperson Don Aaron declined to elaborate on how Hale currently identified. (With agency inputs)
