Quavaugntay Tyler, a Kent State University freshman. Tyler remains jailed on a concealed weapon charge
Wednesday evening, Kent State University went into lockdown after shots were fired near a classroom building. The shot went off around 8:10 pm after a dispute between a man and a woman.
The campus went into lockdown at about 9:15 pm but the lockdown was lifted for most of the campus at about 10:20, except for 2 buildings which were later evacuated by police by individual rooms. The last building was cleared of students by 11:45 and a shelter-in-place warning was lifted for the entire campus.
Thankfully, no injuries were reported and 10 police units responded to the occurrence, including the Portage County SWAT Unit.
After searching Bowman Hall until 11 pm, authorities came to the conclusion that the suspect was no longer on campus.
McKenzie King, 19, a Kent freshman who lives in Manchester Hall on campus, has been through this situation before. She was a junior at Chardon High School when three students were killed and three others injured in a shooting on Feb. 27, 2012.She said news of the Kent shooting and the lockdown was unnerving.”My heart dropped when I first found out,” she said. She said there were rumors the gunman was shooting students in the Business Administration Building. “It was scary at first. I was worried. I was like, ‘Is this for real, am I going through it once more?” King said. “I got really scared then.”
King was in her dorm room on the fourth floor and stayed there during the lockdown. She said she was joined by some friends, including another former Chardon student, from the first floor who felt safer on the higher floor. She said the experience at Chardon actually helped her stay calm and know how to react. She said she turned the lights off in her room and tried to remain quiet while the campus was on lockdown.
“You knew how to deal with the situation,” she said. “You knew exactly what to do.” – cleveland.com
Kaitlyn Stanko, another student at Kent State University stated, “I honestly got lucky tonight. I was supposed to be in the business building at Kent for class tonight. Everyone in Kent, stay safe!”
Kent police arrested 24-year-old Quavaugntay Tyler, a freshman, after he checked into a hospital for a gun wound in his hand. He was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and was allegedly prosecuted Thursday afternoon.