Officials with the Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory said the school's east and main campuses were on lockdown for most of the day on Wednesday. A staff member reported seeing a gunman a little after 9:00 a.m. on the east campus of the college. School officials cancelled afternoon and evening classes.
More than 5,000 students attend classes at both campuses. Mary Reynolds, Community Relations Director at the college, said the school began practicing emergency drills after the Virginia Tech shootings. She said the planning helped keep the situation under control.
"We actually practiced this very similar incident a few years back and we continue to review and improve our emergency protocol just for such an occasion. We had law enforcement actually enact a mock situation on our campus, so for the most part our faculty and staff were very familiar with what to do and did a good job with reassuring students and visitors," said Reynolds.
Dozens of law enforcement officials canvased several acres around the college looking for the alleged gunman, but came up empty-handed. The suspect is described as a white male in his 30's with stringy blonde hair, wearing a backpack.
Reynolds said it will be business as usual on Thursday at Catawba Valley Community College.
