Lockdown Lifted After Reports Of Northwestern Gunman Turn Out To Be Hoax

Police later determined the 911 calls and reports were a hoax. Police said the 911 call came from outside the Rockford area.

“We are prepared to call this incident a hoax,” Evanston Police Cmdr. Ryan Glew told reporters.

Evanston police initially said they were investigating reports of shots fired near Emerson Street and Maple Avenue. The university said there were reports of a man with a gun at Engelhart Hall, a graduate student dormitory. A call indicated that a person has shot his girlfriend.

Later, at 3:11 p.m., Evanston police said they searched the original area of the reported shooting and did not find anything. However, they said officers are still searching the area.

Shortly before 4 p.m., the university partially lifted its campus lockdown. Northwestern instructed those in Englehart Hall to remain behind locked doors; those not in the area no longer needed to stay behind locked doors.