No evidence of armed suspect or shots fired at Monmouth University; curling iron mistaken for weapon, police say
A nearly four-and-a-half-hour shelter-in-place at the New Jersey campus ended after police determined a student was carrying a curling iron, not a weapon.
Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, lifted a shelter-in-place order early Thursday, March 23, 2023, after police said there was no evidence of an armed suspect or shots fired on campus — the report that triggered the lockdown had come from a student who mistook another student's curling iron for a weapon, according to 6abc Philadelphia.
The shelter-in-place began around 9:15 p.m. Wednesday, March 22, on reports of a possible armed suspect and shots fired. It was lifted around 1:40 a.m., nearly four and a half hours later, per 6abc's reporting.
6abc reported that after interviews and a review of security footage, investigators identified a currently enrolled student as the person of interest and determined the student had been carrying a curling iron that another student mistook for a weapon while walking on campus. Police said there was no evidence that any shots were actually fired.
How the lockdown unfolded
Students, faculty and staff were told to shelter in place while police searched campus following the initial report. According to Monmouth's student newspaper, The Outlook, the university's emergency notification alert went out at 9:51 p.m. -- roughly 35 minutes after the initial report to campus police -- but some students said they never received it at all. Rumors that shots had been fired began circulating online around 10:30 p.m., well before the university sent its first follow-up message at 11:49 p.m., nearly two hours after the initial alert. Confirmation that there was no evidence shots had been fired did not go out until 1:05 a.m., per The Outlook's reporting, shortly before the all-clear at 1:41 a.m.
The Outlook reported that at least two students sheltered in a bathroom inside a campus building called Shadows after hearing loud noises nearby, and that university leadership held a Zoom meeting attended by roughly 1,000 people afterward to address students' concerns. Classes were delayed until noon the following day, March 23.
Students criticized the pace of updates
I really wish that the University gave more timely updates about the situation.
That comment, from a Monmouth junior, was published by The Outlook alongside a similar complaint from a senior who said the university "could have done a better job with effectively communicating to the students" during the roughly four-and-a-half-hour gap between the initial alert and the all-clear. The complaints centered specifically on the two-hour stretch between the first alert and the first substantive follow-up message, during which unconfirmed rumors of gunfire spread among students who had little other information.
What is still unclear
The available reporting does not name the two students involved or detail what specifically about the curling iron led the reporting student to believe it was a weapon. It also does not specify what, if any, disciplinary or follow-up action the university took beyond the Zoom meeting with students, or whether the notification-timeline gaps The Outlook documented prompted any formal review of the university's alert system.
US In News compiled this archived account from contemporaneous coverage by 6abc Philadelphia and The Outlook, Monmouth University's student newspaper. It restores a story originally published on this site in March 2023; figures are as reported at the time.