Gunshots fired outside the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity house early Sunday morning frightened party-goers and bystanders.
It is unknown who the shooter was and where the shooter came from, as rumors floated on social media that the suspect is not a student at the university.
Elizabeth Angione, an eyewitness and sophomore history major, said she heard gunshots around 12:15 a.m. being shot into the air from a neighboring yard of the TKE house near campus at 212 University Drive.
Video footage surfaced from the basement of the house where multiple male subjects were fighting prior to the gunshots.
Angione said people left the basement of the house when her friends questioned other attendees why they were leaving and found out someone had a gun.
Angione said she and her friends left the basement and went to the porch of the house where people gathered. Shortly after, she recalled three gunshots going off.
Fraternity brothers then called out for those outside to make their way inside the house and head to the basement, Angione said.
“We’re [inside], I’m texting my family and telling them what’s going on,” she said. “I’m very scared.”
Approximately 30 minutes after Angione and others at the house were in the basement, they made their way back to the main level of the home but did not go back outside, as police presence was still in the neighborhood. Those in the house then exited the house after police left the scene around 1:30 a.m., Angione said.
Angione said she was not approached by police and did not see any officers enter the TKE house.
Hunter Houy, a senior accounting major, said he heard the gunshots while in another house a few doors down.
At first, it sounded like fireworks went off and he did not think they were gunshots until police showed up, he said.
Houy said he did not believe anyone was injured as no emergency medical services reported to the scene.
Like Houy, Angione said she did not see any ambulances and believed no one was injured, giving her and her family comfort.
“My mom was very happy that the police handled [the situation] well and the (fraternity) brothers handled it well,” Angione said.
She said she knew the incident did not happen on campus, but she believed it occurred close enough where alerts from the university should have been sent out.
“I still think [the university] should have sent something out,” Angione said. “At least when I went to high school, if there were gunshots [within] the town we were in, we would shut down and put everyone into lockdown.”
Eric Mansfield, the university’s spokesman, said the incident was handled by city police and the university was notified of the incident and assisting as needed.
“I was very scared I was going to die that night,” Angione said.
This is an updating story.
Anthony Zacharyasz is managing editor. Contact him at [email protected].
