Delta State university having 3,500 students enrolled near the Arkansas border, in the city of Cleveland is about a five-hour drive north and police were called there at 10.18 local time (16:18 GMT) when shots were heard. All campus buildings were then locked from the inside and officials advised people to shelter as police cleared students from buildings on campus.
Prof Ethan Schmidt, who specialised in Native American and colonial history, was shot in his office inside the university’s Jobe Hall building, police said. A manhunt is under way for the suspect, a geography professor Shannon Lamb who is on the run. The suspect is also armed, dangerous and linked to the fatal shooting of a lady named Amy Prentiss (41years) 300 miles away earlier in the day.
Police had already established contacts with the suspect Mr Lamb, 45, who has been an employee of the university since 2009. The police urged the public to be extremely careful if they spotted him. He is thought to be driving a Dodge Charger. Police helicopters were circling the campus and hundreds of officers swept the buildings.
Students and faculty are sad that Prof Schmidt, a gentleman in every sense of the word, is the victim of Mr Lamb who is apparently “easy going”.
