Report Of Shot Fired Near Shirley Prison Prompts Lockdown
SHIRLEY (CBS) -- A report of a shot fired in the area of a Shirley prison prompted a lockdown on Thursday, State Police say.
State Police say they were called to the area of Massachusetts Correctional Institution on Harvard Road shortly before 3:30 p.m.
Correction officials say they heard a gunshot coming from a wooded area behind the minimum security facility. They saw a man running from the area, police say.
The individual is described as being a white man, wearing dark-colored pants, police say.
The prison was locked down because it's standard operating procedure, officials say, and all inmates were accounted for.
State Police K-9 units and an Air Wing conducted a search of the immediate area out to State Road near Route 2, but they were unable to locate the man.
One woman living near the prison took the news in stride.
"I got home and there (were) helicopters in the air, and if there was a breakout they would usually call and tell us," she says. "The guards are good. They'll come by and tell us if something's going on."
A woman tried to visit her brother, who is an inmate at the prison, but she was told visiting hours were cancelled.
Search teams worked late into the evening, but they haven't found anyone. Police say they don't know of anybody hit by gunfire.
WBZ-TV's Jim Smith contributed to this report.