Connecticut college lockdown lifted, suspect in custody

At least one suspect was taken into custody and a campus-wide lockdown for a Connecticut college was lifted after officials received a report Monday of an armed person on campus, officials said.

No one was hurt, Central Connecticut State University spokesman Mark McLaughlin told the Los Angeles Times in a brief phone interview, adding that officials were planning to hold a news conference about the new developments shortly.

Photos shared on social media from the locked-down campus in New Britain, just southwest of Hartford, showed police separately leading away at least two young men, one of whom was wearing an orange shirt and camouflage pants.

It wasn’t immediately clear if either man was the suspect who prompted the campus lockdown.

Nicholas Federici, a student and former police officer, told the Hartford Courant he had seen a man with a sword and a handgun walking toward James Hall. He told the Courant the man was wearing green Army fatigues, black knee pads and some kind of a mask and a backpack that made “a big thud” when the man dropped it.

Federici said he followed the man from about 10 feet and called police.

A report was received by the school about 9:30 a.m. of a person of interest seen with a weapon, McLaughlin earlier told The Times.

Police swarmed the campus and focused on James Hall in particular while the university urged students to stay in place and get away from the windows.

After a 2 1/2-hour lockdown, the alert was lifted. Classes were canceled for the rest of the day.

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