Police are beginning a secondary search of the Student Recreation and Wellness Center

Police secure the Student Recreation and Wellness Center after a report of an armed assailant in the rec center. DN PHOTO STAFF REPORTS
Police secure the Student Recreation and Wellness Center after a report of an armed assailant in the rec center. DN PHOTO STAFF REPORTS

Police are starting a secondary search and using K-9 units in the Student Recreation and Wellness Center, an officer said.

The officer said this means they have searched the entire building and are now searching every room and unlocking each door.

This includes the pool and training areas.

Officers said they still have no suspects.

All students who were evacuated from the buildings are free to leave.

The investigation is anticipated to take another hour, according to a university emergency alert, and residence halls will remain secured until the buildings are cleared.

An FBI vehicle was on the scene.

Reports from other media outlets caused the emergency notification system to send several alerts through text message and emails about false reporting.

Dan Tracy, a graduate assistant in sports administration, said he was in his office on the third floor of the Health and Physical Activity Building when he heard yelling at about 4:30 p.m.

“I just heard the male voice say ‘gun’ at the top of his lungs,” he said.

Tracy said the voice sounded panicked. The voice shouted several times.

He locked himself in his office with his lights off and texted his family to let them know he was OK.

About 10 minutes later, he said he heard the same male voice shout “gun” again.

“My heart was beating about as hard as it [has] ever,” he said.

After about an hour of waiting while he heard people shuffling outside, people’s keys rattling and doors slamming, Tracy said police found him.

They ushered him into a larger office with a group of other people, and three officers guided them all out of the building.

EARLIER

Police are asking students to keep their hands in the air following an apparent misfire of a police officer’s weapon, according to dispatch traffic.

Kyle Roetting, a freshman nursing major, said he saw an officer walking down Neely Avenue and the officer’s gun discharged into the ground.

Police have released hundreds of students from the rec center into the middle of the intersection.

Police are searching released students. They are being asked to open their jackets and bags, but not being patted down.

“Everybody that’s leaving the building is going to be treated exactly the same,” said an Indiana State Police officer.

Police are continuing to look for a suspect after someone yelled “Gun!” in the rec center, said a state police officer.

The officer said no shots were fired and no injuries were reported.

Campus, local and state police swarmed Ball State’s campus Friday searching for an armed assailant.

A police helicopter and a Homeland Security vehicle were on the scene.

A university emergency notification also said a person in the rec center shouted there was a gun.

Ball State’s official twitter account for crisis communication tweeted there is a possible armed assailant in the area of the rec center. The account also tweeted that media reports of a hostage situation are inaccurate. The twitter account warned to also avoid Health and Physical Activity Building, the Lewellen Aquatic Center and Worthen Arena.

Students who want to return to the buildings after they have been cleared are waiting with police in the Architecture Building.

Student reactions

Maggie Byrnes, a freshman elementary education major, was evacuated to the upstairs track while police searched the building.

“They haven’t really told us anything,” she said. “They’ve just been trying to keep us safe.”

She said once the police were finished, they evacuated the students to the Architecture Building’s parking lot.

“They said, ‘Do you guys not f—king understand this, get out of the f—king building,’” Byrnes said. “They told us we need to get out of the building, so we’re just following orders.”

Amie Cipolla, a sophomore interior design major, was working out in the basement when she and her friend saw a group of people gathering by the windows.

“One of the employees came down and said, ‘We’re on lockdown, we don’t know what’s going on, but we’re moving everybody to the track,’” she said.

The group was moved to the upstairs track are as well, but Cipolla said she was unsure of how safe they were.

“Being up on the track, I feel, wasn’t the best place to be because it’s so open,” she said. “There were so many of us — if anybody came from any direction, I feel like they could have shot us. I feel like there should have been a better place to go, maybe in the basement.”

Cipolla said the police didn’t inform the group of anything other than there was a possible armed person nearby.

“It was really scary,” she said. “I’m still shaking.”

EARLIER:

Police began releasing students from the center, gathering them first in the parking lot by the Architecture Building. As buildings were cleared, people were being released, a police dispatcher said.

EARLIER:

Indiana State Police and police dogs have arrived on the scene.

Police, armed with assault rifles and shotguns, have shut down Neely Avenue and parts of McKinley and New York avenues. The building has not been evacuated, but students are on lockdown and no one is allowed to enter.

The police responded after a report that someone yelled that there was gun in the building. A Ball State graduate student tweeted that someone came onto his floor yelling, “Gun.”

The police have no suspect at this time.

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