Students at Emory University told to shelter in place

Officials at Emory University are urgently telling students and staff to shelter in place amid reports of a possible armed suspect.

The university said in an email Monday that police are on scene at the nearby Druid Hills High School and that there may be an armed subject on Emory’s campus in Atlanta.

At around 12:30 p.m., students were seen milling around outside the high school amid a handful of police cars.

Maia Higgins, 16, said the school went into lockdown around 10:30 a.m., meaning she had to stay in her classroom. The principal announced over the public address system that it was a “level 2” lockdown, which Higgins took to mean there was some type of threat but no active shooter.

Higgins said a photo of a student with a handgun had circulated on social media. It was not known whether the photo was connected to the lockdown, which was later canceled.

Earlier, Emory University said police were responding to an active shooter on campus. That message, initially posted on Twitter, was taken down. The school then said in a tweet that there was no active shooter.

The incident comes just ahead of graduation weekend at the private university, which consistently ranks among the top schools of higher education in the Southeast. The main commencement ceremony, including a speech by entertainment mogul Tyler Perry, is Monday.