Students were being released from a North Carolina community college campus Thursday afternoon after a lockdown that followed reports of a shooting, the school said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries at Forsyth Tech Community College in Winston-Salem. While an investigation is ongoing, law enforcement was releasing students, faculty staff and visitors, the school tweeted.
"Campus is closed and all classes are canceled for the remainder of the week at all locations," the school said.
Winston-Salem police tweeted that they received a report of a shooting at Forsyth Tech around 10:10 a.m. and that officers were on the scene on the main campus. Police later tweeted that there was no active shooter on campus. They said there were no threats to other schools in the area.
The campus was on lockdown for hours. There were reports of two suspects, Forsyth Tech spokesman Devin Purgason said by telephone.
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Darius Taylor, a Forsyth Tech student and employee of WXII-TV, told the station he was on campus when the school sent an alert warning of shots fired. He told the station his class immediately went into lockdown mode, turning the lights off and sitting against a wall. He said a professor locked all the doors and that he saw police respond quickly to begin clearing the building.
Other students and parents told local news outlets they were filled with anxiety and fear during the lockdown as they waited for an all clear.
Students from at least two nearby school districts were on the community college campus Thursday for a trip. All of those students were safe and accounted for, the districts said in statements.
The reports of gunfire on the North Carolina campus came days after a former student shot through the doors of a Christian elementary school in Tennessee, killing three children and three adults, the latest in a series of mass shootings in a country that has grown increasingly unnerved by bloodshed in schools.
Firearms are generally prohibited on Forsyth Tech's campus, according to the school’s website, outside of limited exceptions.
