BREAKING: Gunman Spotted on Santa Fe Campus Gainesville,FL

[Jeanette in FL]

http://www.am850.com/news/archives/2008/02/breaking_gunman_spotted_on_santa_fe_campus.asp

BREAKING: Gunman Spotted on Santa Fe Campus
Tuesday, February 19, 2008

A man with a gun has been spotted at the Santa Fe Community College Northwest Campus Food Court. According to a notice on the Santa Fe Community College website, the individual is reported to be an African American man with dark complexion, approximately 5 feet five inches in height with a medium build, wearing a green and brown striped shirt with baggy blue shorts that reach his ankles.

SFCC Police officers responded at the scene. A man who answered the phone at the SFCC Police Department said students coming to campus should turn around and go home.
The Alachua County Sheriff's Office is assisting.

University of Florida spokesman Steve Orlando says a University of Florida Police Officer is also responding to the scene and the University is closely monitoring the situation.
Keep checking back for the latest information.


--Oh Lord, I hope we don't have another repeat of last week. Very bizarre.--

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. no shots fired yet?

If someone just spotted him, maybe no one will get hurt. I hope so.

[Jeanette in FL]

2. No shots fired, that I know of.

I know that they have alerted the students via text message, etc. Traffic is closed in all directions to the school. There is a helicopter above the area looking for him.

[liberalnurse]

8. Call Swat....

Take him out. Protect our children.

[angstlessk]

3. wouldn't baggy shorts that reach your ankles be called baggy PANTS???

just wonderin? :shrug:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. Jinx

You owe me a coke. :P

[angstlessk]

7. I saw that and checked to see the timing and it is exactly the same!

coke on its way! :evilgrin:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

4. "baggy blue shorts that reach his ankles"

Wouldn't that be considered long pants and not shorts?

Let's hope it's all just a mistake made by a slightly paranoid person.

[Jeanette in FL]

6. They are evacuating the school now

But have not put the school in lockdown.

[Jeanette in FL]

9. Latest from the Gainesville Sun

3:02 p.m.
Santa Fe Community College officials said they have identified the man with a gun as a SFCC student and law enforcement is trying to locate him.


GUNMAN REPORTED AT SFCC NORTHWEST CAMPUS

A man displayed a handgun at the Santa Fe Community College Northwest Campus Food Court at approximately 12 p.m. noon Tuesday, February 19. The weapon was not used.

The individual is reported to be an African American male with a dark complexion, approximately 5 feet five inches in height with a medium build, wearing a green and brown striped shirt with baggy blue shorts that reach his ankles.

A man fitting the description of this individual was reported five minutes later at the SFCC Gym without incident. There are no other reports on this individual.

SFCC Police officers responded at the scene and called the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, which is responding to the Northwest Campus.

All students and employees are urged to exercise caution. Do not approach this individual.

Updates will be sent as soon as possible.
SFCC President Jackson Sasser said he believes the man has left campus.

"Once we have searched each building, on the advice of ASO, we sent the students home and secured those buildings," said Sasser.

"We're taking extra, extra precaution," he said.

2:27 p.m.
Classes at the school have been discontinued until 7 p.m. Tuesday after officials received reports of an armed man at the campus, SFCC reported.

Officers were continuing to search the grounds

http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20080219/BREAKING/236626846

If they know who he is they should identify him so that if anyone sees him they can be warned. Crazy.

[Xithras]

10. Not every armed person on campus is a "gunman"

Most campuses are large and open. Sometimes you get gang bangers cutting across campus, sometimes you get armed thugs who are simply trying to lift someones wallet, and occasionally you'll get a local drug dealer trying to make some sales to students.

The term "gunman" indicates a sniper in a tower or a maniac shooting up classrooms. The odds are far greater that this guy was just some random thug. This sort of thing happens every day on hundreds of campuses across the country.

[SteveM]

11. I attended SF Com. Coll. over 40 yrs. ago -- before it was a gun-free zone.

[Jeanette in FL]

12. 3:40 Update - Still searching

3:40 p.m.

A man identified as a Santa Fe Community College student pulled a gun on another SFCC student, with whom he may have had an earlier altercation, in the college's cafeteria at around noon Tuesday, Alachua County Sheriff's spokesman Art Forgey said at a press briefing at 3 p.m. this afternoon.

The man with the gun is wanted for aggravated assault. Both men are still being sought, he said.
"We don't believe it was random," said Forgey. "(The incident) was not directed at the school in general. We believe he was looking for one person. There was apparently a purpose."

Forgey said the man with the gun has had problems in the past.