U of M students recount stressful morning after man threatened to shoot people on Twin Cities campus
MINNEAPOLIS — Authorities located the man who allegedly threatened to open fire on the University of Minnesota campus on Thursday. Officials say there is no longer a threat to students.
Joseph Rongstad, 41, posted his threats to social media alerting authorities and sending the Twin Cities campus into lockdown for hours Thursday.
"I got the alert this morning. I talked to my dad about it, he was telling me to be careful," student Sydnee Petersen said.
Petersen said it's not uncommon for students to get SAFE-U alerts, but the one they received Thursday morning was different.
"A little bit more urgent I'd say, that someone is like, actively threatening everyone," she said.
The alert was sent at 7:21 a.m. and told the campus community someone was threatening to shoot people on campus.
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"Hopefully he's just saying stuff and doesn't actually do anything," student Stephen Birch said.
Law enforcement from multiple agencies patrolled campus and parked outside buildings as the university told everyone to avoid the area.
"I definitely saw more law enforcement than I usually see, so I guess they're amping up just in case as a precautionary measure," student Jeremy Plofsky said.
Plofsky was among the few students back for the spring semester, which doesn't start until next week.
"Maybe this guy had a bad day or something. You definitely don't take it with a grain of salt," he said.
The university restricted building access to U-Card only. They also told non-essential employees to work from home.
A spokesperson for the University said, "The U of M is able to function remotely because of our experience doing it during the COVID pandemic. We want to express our gratitude towards the tremendous efforts by law enforcement."
Around 1 p.m. Thursday, the University issued an "all clear," letting students and staff know there was no longer a threat on campus.
"If you really think about this day and age with gun violence all over the country, I'd say I have a right to be concerned," Plofsky said.
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