WARWICK – Classes at the Community College of Rhode Island’s Warwick campus resumed Wednesday afternoon after the campus was evacuated in the morning when a spent bullet casing was found in the main building.
Morning classes were suspended, and K9 units from the state police and Providence Police Department were called in to search the campus after the “highly unusual” discovery at 7 a.m., CCRI officials said. The casing was found on the sixth floor of the main building, near an elevator.
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“We wanted to determine what, if anything else, was in the building,” said Capt. Sean Collins, director of CCRI public safety.
In a news conference at CCRI at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Collins and Warwick Police Chief Rick Rathbun acknowledged that the fatal shooting Tuesday at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte was on their mind when the evacuation was ordered. At UNC, two people were killed and four others were wounded. The Charlotte police have arrested a 22-year-old suspect.
“We don’t live in a bubble,” Collin said.
The search of the Warwick campus, which was also assisted by Warwick police, turned up no more bullet casings and no weapons, CCRI President Meghan Hughes said. Students and faculty were told by email, text and social media alerts that the campus had reopened and classes had resumed at 2 p.m..
No other CCRI campuses were affected by the evacuation. The police said they are continuing to investigate how and why the bullet casing was in the building.
