Police continue to search for an alleged gunman after a shooting on Tuesday near the University of South Carolina-Upstate that led to a lockdown of the Spartanburg campus.
Spartanburg County sheriff’s deputies responded to reports of a shooting at 12:20 p.m. near the Campus Edge Apartments, located adjacent to the campus.
When police arrived, they found a man with a gunshot wound to his arm following an alleged incident in a parking lot of the apartment building, reports The Post and Courier. The man’s injuries are non-life threatening.
The man, who is not a student, told police he was meeting someone at the complex. When he asked another man for directions, the man allegedly started “fidgeting around in his waistband”, produced a weapon and began firing at him.
Lieutenant Kevin Bobo says after being brought to an area hospital, the man’s account of the incident changed and he is no longer cooperating with authorities.
The university sent out a tweet just before 1 p.m., stating, “Alert: Possible shots fired. Police on scene.” Students were then sent an email saying the suspect was thought to have left on foot toward campus and the school was placed on lockdown. The lockdown was lifted at approximately 2 p.m.
Bobo says investigators do not believe there was ever a threat to students or staff on campus and authorities did not search for the gunman on campus.
A follow-up tweet from the school stated, “USC Upstate suspect is black male wearing khaki pants and grey hoodie carrying an automatic weapon.” However, Bobo says the description was not accurate, according to GoUpState.com.
Keivous Epps, a resident of the Campus Edge apartments, says he and his girlfriend, a USC Upstate student, heard the gunshots.
“We heard about four shots and looked out the window and saw they were running and then we heard another shot. Police busted in my spot because they thought it was us because a dude ran up through our breezeway.”
As of Tuesday evening, no arrests have been made.
