Authorities at the University of South Carolina-Upstate in Spartanburg, S.C. placed the campus on lockdown after shots were heard near the campus library at about 1 p.m. on Tuesday. Police have the apartment complex where the shots were fired surrounded as they investigate what happened.
The campus lifted the lockdown just before 2 p.m. However, the university did not announce that the suspect had been apprehended or was in custody, leaving students and parents to wonder.
The university took to social media to encourage students to sign up for alerts related to the shooting and the campus lockdown. Reports stated that one person has been shot and the suspect fled the scene on foot. Campus police said that they have confirmed one person was shot at Campus Edge Apartments, which is located next to the university campus. The victim’s injuries do not appear to be life-threatening. A university spokeswoman said that the victim is not a student at the college. Spartanburg police said that the victim was shot in the arm, but is not cooperating with investigators.
Despite at least one Twitter user claiming the shooter was Samuel Hyde a false claim that has persisted since 2016, the shooter remained unidentified at about 3 p.m. Eastern.
According to the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office, the original identification was inaccurate. The university released a Twitter post claiming that the shooter was an African-American with a gray hoodie and khaki pants, but the SCSO has disputed that account and said that they did not see such an identification until a reporter showed them the post. As the shooting occurred at an off-campus apartment, the shooting falls under the jurisdiction of the SCSO, not the USC Upstate campus police.
The Carolinian reported that the university did not cancel classes, and students were only being let into classes with the okay of police officers. The campus was mostly without people other than the police presence, which included both the campus police and the Spartanburg police.
More details will be released as they become available.