Worcester State University, as seen today, February 22, 2012. Staff Photo by Mark Garfinkel (Photo by Mark Garfinkel/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)
A university campus in Massachusetts was locked down for seven hours Saturday after two people were shot in an altercation near a parking garage, authorities said.
Neither the victims, who were hospitalized, nor the assailants were students at Worcester State University, according to a spokesperson for Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early. A shelter-in-place order was being lifted around 9:30 a.m. but authorities urged the public to avoid areas where police were working, spokesperson Lindsay Corcoran said.
Massachusetts State Police said the shooting happened shortly before 3 a.m. near Wasylean Hall and Sheehan Hall. “Preliminary investigation suggests the incident was the result of an altercation and was not an active shooter incident,” Dave Procopio, director of media communications, said in a press release.
“It is premature to state that a suspect is in custody. Investigators are still probing all the facts and circumstances of the incident,” Procopio said in a statement, correcting an earlier statement by state police that a suspect had been apprehended.
The university about 50 miles west of Boston canceled all homecoming and family weekend events along with other campus activities.
