1705 Campus police, Amherst police, and the Buffalo SWAT team are currently evacuating the Lockwood library on campus.

My Facebook feed is about to catch fire from all the updates and rumors. I've got class in an hour two buildings away from the library, but I suspect class is canceled.

1735 The entire campus is now being evacuated. I guess this means I didn't need to do the readings for tonight, eh? Similarly, some of my more irreverent FB friends have created an event "Lockwood Zombie Attack" scheduled for right now. Until we find out if anyone is hurt, I think that's kind of inappropriate.

Word is, there is a person in Lockwood Library with a gun. Whether said gun has been employed is unclear.

1740 The Public Safety "current alerts" page is loading very very slowly; I assume that their server is about to catch fire. The most recent alert is for an on-campus robbery back in early December. Most likely the entire force has turned out, and the dispatcher is too busy to update the page. Still, official confirmation of the campus closure would be nice.

No news on the general "MyUB" campus website either. It is also loading very very slowly.

1742 Got an email from the Office of the University President:

UB Police have evacuated Lockwood Library on the North Campus. Please stay away until further notice.

That's not terribly informative.

1750 While doing a Google News to see if this had hit the wires yet, I turned up an interesting example of academic fraud announced earlier today. I am assuming they are unrelated. Still, it's an interesting news story.

1752 Another official email from the Office of the University President:

UB Police have evacuated Lockwood Library on the North Campus. All classes on the North Campus this evening have been cancelled. Please stay away from the campus until further notice.

Less than a minute later, this email from the account of a Public Safety officer:

University Police has an unsubstantiated report of a person with a weapon in Lockwood Library.  Lockwood Library has been evacuated and all classes on the North Campus been cancelled for the remainder of the day. Until further notice, do not go to Lockwood Library or other buildings on the Academic Spine. 

At least it's officially "unsubstantiated" at this time. That suggests no casualties.

1801 The Buffalo News has a story out. With a photo. This is the reason a night editor stays in the building after the rest of the newspaper staff has gone home.

According to the article I just linked, the police have announced there is security camera footage of someone walking into the library with what might be a rifle. The student paper is reporting eyewitnesses to the gun, but UB's student paper is about as reliable as all such rags.

1807 Some good news: I've got an acquaintance that works in that library; he went home shortly before all this started.

1814 The Buffalo News now has a photo gallery up, or so they claim. The website keeps timing out. Again, I suspect their server is getting beaten into the ground.

1811 Someone has wisely pointed out that there is no shortage of people taking film classes that aren't too bright. Back in the late nineties there was a group of students filming a "shootout" with replica weapons in a parking lot just off campus. They were rather surprised when a horde of police descended upon them. So even if this is not an overreaction to an ambiguous item, it might be a dumb film student.

1822 The fuzz have definatly busted out the AR-15s and M-4s. Some decent photos at the Buffalo News. The cops are not very good at finding cover. I suppose that's good, I'd rather they practice their "community policing" skills rather than tactical skills.

1835 Local news channel:

It includes reports that there are students stuck inside the locked-down library, at least one of which has been texting her mother that she and her friends saw an armed man. Still no reports of weapons fire.

2026 Another email; they've apparently given up on finding a potential gunman.

The University Police have determined that Lockwood Library and the academic spine are safe.  Students can circulate around campus.

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