Highline College in Washington state is on lockdown after reports of gunfire on the campus south of Seattle, the college said Friday morning in Facebook posts and automated phone recordings.
“They’re looking for and trying to confirm that shots were fired,” said Washington State Patrol trooper Rick Johnson, whose agency was asked to shut down a portion of Interstate 5 near the campus while other agencies investigate the reports.
“They (police) are essentially setting up a perimeter. There is no confirmation that we know of,” Johnson said.
The lockdown comes two days after a mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, left 17 people dead.
Police in Renton, Washington, near the Highline campus, said they were among the agencies responding to the reports.
Renton PD and multiple agencies assisting at Highline Comm College for reports of "shots fired", nothing confirmed yet. /sh pic.twitter.com/JdpDORCXTB
— Renton Police Dept. (@RentonpdWA) February 16, 2018
Highline College’s Facebook page first mentioned a lockdown and the report of shots fired in a post shortly before 9 a.m. PT (noon ET).
An hour later, another post read that the lockdown continued.
“Police are clearing buildings. Please remain in lockdown until police have cleared your building. Parents can re-unify with students in the Lowes parking lot of Pacific Highway,” the post reads.
Highline is a community college on 80 acres in Des Moines, according to its website, a few miles south of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/16/us/washington-highline-college-lockdown/index.html
“They’re looking for and trying to confirm that shots were fired,”
Pales by comparison.