Seattle Pacific University campus briefly put on lockdown after reports of gunman chasing woman

The Pacific University Campus was briefly put on lock down after reports that an armed person had chased a woman in the area on Saturday morning, local media said.

SPU campus officials alerted students and faculty of the potential threat, urging them to leave the area and find a safe place.

“If you are on-campus find the nearest available room and lock the door. If you are on-campus, but locked outside a building, seek shelter off campus immediately. If you are not on campus, stay away,” the University authorities said in an e-mail around 9:20 am local time, as quoted by Komonews.

The university stressed this was not a drill.

Police searched the area for 30 minutes, but did not find anyone, according to Komo. The lockdown was subsequently lifted.

The woman, who contacted police saying an armed person had been chasing her, was found outside the campus safe, but badly bruised.

Several campus shootings were witnessed at US universities in 2015. One person was killed and another injured on November 1 in a shooting at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina.

On October 1, ten people died in a violent shooting at a rural community college in Oregon.

On October 9, a gunman opened fire at Northern Arizona University, killing one and wounding three.