Appalachian State University Locked Down After Gunman Seen On Campus

Classes were scheduled to resume Tuesday morning at Appalachian State University in Boone after the campus was placed on lockdown for almost 90 minutes early Monday evening.

Someone reported seeing a man with a gun inside a campus building.

The university lifted the lockdown, but police were still looking for the suspect.

Matthew Haney said he still can't believe what he saw when he got home to his apartment near the campus Monday afternoon.

He said he saw an armed man wearing a ski mask inside the building.

"It was black, it was metallic, and it looked like a gun, so the first thing I did was I turned and ran," said Haney.

The second thing he did was alert campus police. Haney's description of a masked gunman eventually led to ASU being on lockdown for more than an hour.

Campus police say they intially notified students and staff via email. But their plan of action dictates that they lock down the campus when there's an immediate threat to students. They also evacuated dozens of students from the library, canceled evening classes and closed down the student union and bookstore.

Students we talked to were in disbelief over the commotion on campus but said police handled the situation well.

"Any campus is dangerous, you know," said Brad Hardee. "You gotta take precautions and police are doing a good job. They're spreading out making a boundary and trying to keep everyone safe."

Ironically, the police chief told us they sent a mass e-mail Monday morning about a new alert system that would send out mass text messages during a situation like the one Monday afternoon.

The chief said the system takes 24 hours to take effect so it was not ready to use on Monday, but the university will be prepared if and when something like this happens again in the future.