An armed criminal did the unthinkable at a North Carolina college late Tuesday night: he brought a weapon into a gun free zone.
You heard that right.
North Carolina Central University’s stated no-guns policy did not prevent a possible shooter from entering the campus with a gun after fleeing from police. The armed man had committed at least two robberies, and was in possession of weapons he stole from a residence. He brought a shotgun with him onto the grounds of the historically black college in Durham, according to The Huffington Post.
At no point did the shotgun-wielding criminal leave the campus in order to be in compliance with its strict no-guns policy.
The college was placed under lockdown until the gunman was shot and killed in a gunfight with police officers, who differ from students, faculty and administrators in that they are allowed to defend themselves on campus.
Students who violate the college’s no-guns policy could be kicked out of their dorms and charged a full semester’s rent.
“The possession of firearms (including BB guns), ammunition, bows and arrows, knives, razors and other dangerous weapons is not permitted in the residence halls or throughout the campus,” according to a handbook for students.
The armed burglar–whose name has not yet been given by the authorities–either did not read the rules, or chose not to follow them.
This is not the first time that a would-be shooter failed to abide by the stipulations of a campus’s gun-free zone policy. In June, mass shooter John Zawahri chose to make his final stand against the police at the library of gun-free Santa Monica college. He killed three people on campus who, unlike Zawahri, had chosen to obey the college’s no-guns policy. (Santa Monica’s strict no guns policy questioned after mass shooting)
NCCU Chancellor Debra Saunders-White did not immediately respond to requests for comment about whether her college’s gun rules will be revised to comply with reality.