Classes canceled on Ohio University's Athens campus following armed robbery

ATHENS, Ohio - A Ohio University senior described the closing of the school’s Athens campus as shocking.

“It was kind of alarming because it was unexpected,” said Kedrin Herron, a senior at OU.

Ohio University canceled classes on Wednesday after an armed fugitive was spotted in the vicinity of the Athens campus.

Herron, who works on campus for the OU alumni association, said he received a text message through the school’s emergency notification system around 10 a.m.

“I was at work and got a text message that there was an armed fugitive at large,” he said.

Herron said he then went to the university’s website where the police department informed university students and personnel that an armed robbery reportedly took place near the university at an apartment complex around 9:24 a.m.

A suspect, described as an African-American male between 6-foot-1-inch and 6-foot-2-inches tall wearing a blue hoodie and blue jeans carrying a gun fled onto campus according to reports.

“A short while after that they sent out another message that all classes and activities would be canceled,” Herron said.

Students were asked to return to their residence and all non-essential employees were told to return home unless otherwise notified by the university’s president, Roderick McDavis.

Neither campus nor Athens police could locate the robbery suspect.

The campus is expected to be open for normal class and work activities on Thursday.

Herron described a crowded scene of student and faculty leaving buildings as they made their way home Wednesday afternoon.

“Everywhere you looked you saw people coming out of academic buildings . . . everybody migrating back to their homes” Herron said.