On the evening of Monday, Feb. 5, the IU Southeast campus was locked down due to an incident involving a firearm on campus.

According to a statement released in a tweet by IU Southeast, an altercation near the Activities Building occurred shortly after 10 p.m. One person, believed to not be a student, involved allegedly revealed a handgun, but left the scene before police arrived.

The complainant was attending an open gym, which has been known to be attended by both students and non-students, for pick-up basketball games. Following the games, the altercation took place between the two according to witness statements given to campus police.

“There was a small altercation, possibly physical, but more verbal — I think — which resulted in someone brandishing a firearm,” Lt. Travis Huntley, IU Southeast Police, said. “We are unsure if [the suspect] actually pointed the firearm at [the complainant], or if he just showed him the gun.”

Once they arrived on scene, police began questioning witnesses and others in attendance to get descriptions of the suspect or his vehicle for the alerts sent out. According to Huntley, the officers received trouble obtaining the information due to witnesses not wanting to give up information.

The complications in receiving information delayed the alert from going out, because officers were unsure if any alerts were needed.

“Initially, we didn’t send out an alert as quickly as we wanted to because we didn’t know if a notification was needed,” Huntley said. “Most events like this are he-said-she-said and you don’t want to incite panic in people if it is unnecessary.”

Even with officers almost certain the suspect had left campus, they still completed a search of all open campus buildings and rooms, and locked the buildings as they finished searching.

“Our response to an incident like this will a lot of times be dictated by the amount of people [on campus],” Huntley said. “At night, our response is going to be adjusted because we can get through the buildings pretty quick, since the campus is pretty empty.”

With classes ended and most campus buildings closed by the time of the incident, the dorms were the main buildings with students still in them. Officers were sent to the dorms, but clearing them was not top priority.

“We did send officers to the dorms, but we knew [the suspect] wasn’t a student, and the dorms are key-card access only. Only people that live there can get in,” Huntley said. “The buildings are not key-card access and people can just walk in, so they took priority and the dorms were some of the last buildings we checked.”

No suspect has been named and he is not believed to be a student at IU Southeast.