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Helicopter video shows authorities searching for the gunman Thursday, Nov. 29, at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
New in this version: Lockdowns lifted; alleged gunman not found
Updated at 4:26 p.m. ET: Two Florida colleges were back to "normal business" Thursday after police locked them down for three hours searching for a gunman believed to have robbed a student on campus.
The alleged gunman wasn't found after the robbery in the Arts and Letters Building at at Florida Atlantic University, which is in Boca Raton, about 60 miles north of Miami. A lockdown was also lifted at the Boca Raton campus of Palm Beach State College, which is near Florida Atlantic.
No shots were fired, and no injuries were reported, campus police said.
Florida Atlantic said the suspect is a male, about 5 feet, 10 inches tall, with a muscular build, wearing a white shirt and pants. The university told NBC Miami that he was believed to have robbed a student at gunpoint.
"The suspect placed a small handgun to the victim's head and then fled on foot after taking some of the victim's possessions," it said in an email statement.
The University Press, the college's student-run magazine, reported on its Twitter account that students in the complex could hear helicopters hovering overhead.
"I'm scared. FAU houses the crazies," Catherine O'Rourke, a senior design major who was hiding under a table in the Visual Arts building, told the publication.
Students, faculty and staff were told to shelter in place, and visitors were told to avoid the campus.
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Leave a Comment:
A black male robbing someone at gunpoint? Say it ain't so!
The school and campus are gun-free zones. Looks like the bad guys know this and are using it to their benefit.
“By disarming a college campus, the institution is announcing to the world that their campus is the perfect place to kill and injure people for several minutes until the police show up,” said Tony Massey, who launched armedcampus.com
LMAO! Unbelievable!
Must be a black male. If the suspect were white the article would say so. The media isn't allowed to profile suspects who are minorities. What a CROC!!! If he were white, the damn article would say so! Crazy, Crazy world we live in!
lol Dawg Pound. Although I do believe you are mistaken my good sir. It would actually be incredibly racist if, a supposedly unbiased "News" source such as MSN, should dare to mention any sort of physical property of a person involving color, if aforementioned color is any hue/tint other than white.
NIIGGGGGGGGERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! There now that's out of the way let's have a mature discussion about this sensitive issue..
Actually, the odds are pretty good it was another student. I live near this College and I do alot of work there. Their security is pretty damned good and it's not an easy college to get out of, if you are in a vehicle. Theres only two ways out of there and both are manned with armed security. In fact, their "security" is actually a Police Dept. Incidently, the two colleges are basically one and the same. They are on the same campus.
I go to FAU and was on campus during this whole thing today while waiting to take a final. The school actually has 4 exits on roads alone, then you can use the trail to walk out and never be seen as well as other ways to get out. Yes he was a black male as told to us on our alerts. The lock down situation was horribly done, and I'm not ever sure if we were on a real lock down. There is no armed or man security at any entrance ever. I'm graduating in a week and after the events of today, it couldn't be any sooner. He wasn't ever caught, and I'm pretty sure he won't be. Future students at FAU, know your exits and best escape routes because security was no where to be seen today.