Tragedy has struck at the Texas Tech University in Lubbock on Monday night as a college freshman shot and killed a campus police officer.
It was learnt that the incident happened after the student was taken to the university police station for questioning in a drug-related case, the university authorities said.
As a result of the shooting in the campus, the authorities was compelled to shut down the university as they frantically searched for the student, who fled the station on foot.
However, the culprit was identified by the university as Hollis A. Daniels, 19.
The university’s Twitter account and online emergency-alert system urged those on campus to shelter in place starting at about 8:30 p.m. on Monday.
It was, however, gathered that Mr. Daniels was caught about an hour later, and the lockdown was lifted.
He was charged with evading arrest while other charges were pending.
The episode began earlierMonday evening, when officers with the campus police department made a so-called student welfare check at Mr. Daniels’s room.
The officers entered his room and found evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia, according to a statement from a spokesman for the university, which is in West Texas.
Officers took him to the police station for a “standard debriefing,” said the spokesman, Chris Cook. He then pulled out a gun and shot a campus officer in the head, killing the officer. The officer’s name was not immediately released.
Officials said a Texas Tech police officer later tackled Mr. Daniels as he fled near the Lubbock Municipal
Coliseum and took him into custody, assisted by Lubbock officers. Mr. Daniels is from Seguin, a city nearly 40 miles east of San Antonio.
Classes were to resume as scheduled on Tuesday.
In a statement, Gov. Greg Abbott said he had spoken with Robert Duncan, the chancellor of the Texas Tech University System, and offered his condolences. “First and foremost, our hearts go out to the family of the police officer killed at Texas Tech University,” Mr. Abbott said in the statement.