Suspect who prompted police response, UMass shelter-in-place order was a boy with an Airsoft gun
A boy who carried an airsoft replica gun prompted a large police response in Lowell and a shelter-in-place order at UMass Lowell on Wednesday , Lowell police said Thursday.
Police added that the boy has been identified and the airsoft gun has been recovered, the department said in a statement . The boy, whose name was not in the statement, has not been arrested.
At around 2:30 p.m., Lowell police learned of a person armed with a gun, police said. Massachusetts State Police wrote on social media that troopers and local police responded to UMass Lowell in response to a video that appears to show an armed person walking near the Riverview Suites student dorm on Middlesex Street.
Lowell police, State Police, a SWAT team, UMass Lowell police, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded and searched the area.
The university issued a campus-wide shelter-in-place order as university and local police worked to investigate the reports. The order was lifted around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
"Let me be clear: This was never an active-shooter situation. There were no reports of shots, and thankfully, there have been no reports of any injuries," Chancellor Julie Chen wrote in a statement posted to the university's website .
All classes and events at UMass Lowell have been cancelled for the rest of the day. Wednesday was the first day of classes at the university. Classes resumed on Thursday.
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