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Police called to UC after shots fired on campus following altercation

113 views · Published 5 December 2018 · 1:59 · Indexed 13 October 2026

Channel: LOCAL 12 · 2018 · News & Politics

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CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Students at the University of Cincinnati were terrified while under lockdown late Thursday night into Friday after shots rang out on campus.

Police were called to the campus rec center after someone fired three shots following a fistfight sometime after 11 p.m., according to Director of Public Safety James Whalen. UC Police said this was an isolated incident involving people who knew each other.

Whalen said they didn't find anyone who was hit by the shots or hurt and everybody involved fled the scene.

A shelter-in-place order was initiated after the shots were fired and was lifted around 12:30 a.m. on Friday. 

The university said there's no threat on campus, but there is an investigation underway and they are searching for the suspects involved in the fight. No one has been arrested at this time.

Students were notified of the shelter-in-place order by safety alerts sent out via phone, email and the campus speaker system. Some students said it took long for the University to put out the shelter-in-place notification, but UC said it was done according to protocol. 

"We have a very robust public safety effort here," said Whalen. "Our personnel were right on the scene. We had police officers on the scene literally within minutes of the report. No one was hit, no one was hurt, and our campus is safe."

A group of students hunkered down in the library said they were scared for their lives while the lockdown was in place.

"Everyone was in the room, literally all crying, we all prayed and we just called our parents because we didn't know what was going to happen," said freshman Macey West.

Another student, Brian Bartolovich, said not knowing what was going on was the worst part. 

"It was just so terrifying that I thought I could've died because I didn't know what was happening," he said. "I didn't know if this was a mass shooting, if this was planned, if this was just a fight gone wrong... I just had no clue what was happening. I was just terrified."

If you can help police find the shooter, call Crimestoppers at 513-352-3040.

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