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RFH 2010, Colgate News

Campus Standoff Ends Peacefully

Tue, Aug 10, 2010

With heavily-armed police, a K-9 unit and armored vehicle standing by, a man with a gun was taken into custory on Colgate's Oak drive Tuesday afternoon.

A man threatening suicide (in blue shorts and white T shirt) was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon on the Colgate campus after an extended standoff. Photo by Bob Cornell

This Was Not a Test; Identity of Man Not Yet Released

A tense two-and-a-half hour armed standoff on the Colgate campus ended peacefully this afternoon with the man threatening suicide taken into custody by police at about 3:15 p.m.

The incident began about 12:30 p.m. when a person phoned the Hamilton Police Department to report a suspicious person in a car parked on the tunout of Oak Drive not far from the entrance of campus. It was reported the person in the car may have a gun.

In short order, the campus entrance at Oak Drive, and Kendrick Street was blocked off and traffic routed off of Rte 12B south by members of the Hamilton Fire Department..Officers from the State Police, Madison County Sheriff's and Morrisville College Campus Police joined HPD and Colgate Campus Safety at the scene.SOMAC was standing by at the scene.

By 1:30 p.m., several dozen police -- several in body armor, helmets and carrying rifles -- were on the scene. The Madison County K-9 unit also responded.

At about the time the standoff ended, an armored vehicle arrived on the scene.

State Police negotiated with the man in the car, who is now confirmed to have had a handgun. The man's father was on the scene during the standoff. He is said to have had no connection with Colgate.

He was taken into custody without incident at about 3:30 p.m. The man's identity has not been released.

Colgate was on lockdown during the standoff and entrances to campus were blocked. Campus officials said that while the incident was contained to a small area on the lower campus, the lockdown was a precaution.

Oddly, Colgate had announced recently that it would be testing it new campus-wide public address warning system Thursday. Several people thought this afternoon's incident was part of that.

This is not the first time in recent memory that Colgate had to deal with campus-wide emergencies, real or imagined.

In March of 2008, a Colgate student posted on the website Juicy Campus about shutting down campus with a shooting spree. The previous fall, a Colgate student walking down the street with a prop rifle for a theater production caused HCS to be locked down.

A scene similar to the one at Colgate was played out on the Hamilton College campus last month but only as practice.

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