Police in Cleveland, Mississippi are confirming there is an active shooter on the campus of Delta State University. Current reports say there is at least one victim and the shooter has not been captured yet.
About an hour after the initial reports, Cleveland Police confirmed that the victim was History professor Ethan Schmidt, and that Schmidt has been evacuated by ambulance. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Schmidt’s Facebook page highlights he had been married for almost 17 years and has three children.
According to local media, Mississippi state police could be seen setting up bulletproof shields on campus as of 11:30 AM CT. There are also unconfirmed reports of a second shooter on the Delta State campus.
UPDATE at 1 PM ET
Local TV station KTBS news is reporting that a gunman may be holding hostages at Delta State University.
Law enforcement was in the process of clearing all buildings on Delta State campus, the school said via Twitter and its website. Of note, all classes have been canceled for the rest of Monday.
UPDATE 2 at 2:15 PN CT – suspected Shooter identified
Police in Mississippi are working to find another Delta State faculty member who they say is a suspect in the death of Schmidt.
The man is identified as Shannon Lamb, a 45-year-old who teaches social sciences at Delta State. Lamb is suspected of fatally shooting an unidentified woman in Gautier, Miss., according to local law enforcement officials.
Lamb apparently called police around 10:20 a.m. to alert them to a dead woman in Gautier, which is almost a five hour drive from Cleveland. Around 15 minutes later, Delta State University put the campus on lockdown because of gunfire
“We’re working under the assumption that both events are related,” Gautier police Detective Matthew Hoggatt told the media. “We hope that they are not, but at this point in time, information indicates that they are linked in some way, shape or form.”
Hoggatt continued to note that Lamb had been seen in Gautier in a green SUV, and a similar vehicle has been located at Delta State.
The Delta State University administration tweeted that the campus has been put on lockdown. “Please stay inside and and away from windows.”
Of note, Delta State University sent out an alert at around 10:40 on Monday morning saying that the shooter was near Jobe Hall.
The historic school, around 120 miles northwest of Jackson, Mississippi, has around 3,300 students.
The local Bolivar Commercial newspaper noted via Twitter that several ambulances are on the Delta State University campus. The paper has also reported a rumor that a professor was shot, and that the school’s president, William N. LaForge, is on campus near the area of the reported shooting.
The news of the shooting on campus comes as DSU got ready to celebrate its 90th anniversary tomorrow (Tuesday).
ValueWalk is continuing to update this breaking story as it develops.
