“Students started running”: CWU students describe getting active shooter alert

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — Central Washington University police are reporting the campus is all clear, after they alerted students of a reported active shooter near Lind Hall Wednesday night.

As of 7:27 p.m., CWU police say there have been no confirmed shots or suspects, or injuries reported.

Students told our KXLY reporters about the moment they got the campus-wide alert.

“I was entering the gym in the SURC when we got the texts,” said student Brendan Dolleman over Twitter. “Students started running and we all [went] into rooms.”

Dolleman said he didn’t hear any shots before or after the alert went out. He told KXLY students were all escorted by staff into the rooms upstairs, then sat and waited for about 45 minutes. Dolleman said they were “updated by CWU SURC recreation staff, but they didn’t know much.”

Mickey Risenway said she hid and stayed away from the windows in her room with all of the lights off and her curtains down.

KXLY’s Aaron Luna spoke with Austin Lane, who works at the CWU student newsroom, over the phone about an hour after the alert first went out. Lane said he was in the building next to Lind Hall when he saw two police officers on campus. He said when he went to pick up his girlfriend about 30 minutes later near Lind Hall, there were ten police cars in the area.

“It just sucks, because Ellensburg has such a small, tight-knit community feeling to it,” he said. “It’s just horrible to be a part of something like this.”

This is a developing story. KXLY will post updates as soon as they become available.

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