Students at Villanova University were seen running for their lives after an active shooter was reported on campus on Thursday.
Frightened faculty members and students at the prestigious Pennsylvania institution were told to get to secure locations just after 4pm.
A second alert told students to avoid the Law School of Scarpa Hall, which held its orientation earlier in the day with a picnic hosted by the Villanova Law Alumni Association. Students were also told to ‘lock/barricade doors.’
Footage from the campus showed a congregation of people scattering in fear. Live video from NBC Philadelphia also showed a shattered glass door and heavily armed police officers storming into the building.
Armored vehicles were also spotted nearby, according to 6 ABC.
Radnor Township Police Department said in a statement: ‘We are on location at Villanova University for a repot of an active shooter.
‘All nearby residents and students are asked to SHELTER IN PLACE AT this time.’
One man told Fox 29 that he was moving his son into school today and was attending an outdoor mass when the priest suddenly stopped speaking and left the altar.
Soon, he began to hear rumors that there was a shooter and everyone began to scatter.
Students and faculty members ran for their lives following the active shooter alert
The students were told to avoid the law school, which held its orientation earlier in the day
Villanova University is a private Catholic university in the Philadelphia suburbs. It borders Lower Merion Township and Radnor Township at the center of the city’s wealthy Main Line neighborhoods.
New student orientation and registration started Thursday and is scheduled to go until Saturday. Classes begin Monday.
Pope Leo XIV, the first pope from the United States, is an alumni of the school, from where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics.
This is a breaking news story.
