Update: SCSU Issues Statement on Monday Night Incident

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- St. Cloud State University has released a statement giving more details on Monday night's incident.

At approximately 10:45 p.m., a campus alert was generated and sent via email and text to registered students, faculty, and staff of the Star Alert system for emergency messaging. There was an error in the campus messages sent at 10:45 p.m., with an email alerting the campus of a suspicious person, and a text of an active shooter.

There was a suspicious person on campus – there was no active shooter.  An updated alert with the corrected information was sent at 10:50 p.m. and an update on the resolution of the situation was sent by 11:20 p.m.

Once detected, the corrected details were sent through text and email.

University officials worked immediately on the message error as SCSU Public Safety and local law enforcement addressed the suspicious person.

St. Cloud Police Department made contact with the individual and brought them to the hospital without incident.

There was no assault or crime committed.

St. Cloud Police Chief Jeff Oxton says there was no gun involved in the incident.

Oxton says police responded to a suicidal man with a knife in the 300 Block of 4th Avenue South. The man was found around 10:40 p.m. at the intersection of 4th Avenue and Highway 23. Officers talked him into dropping the knife & took him to the hospital for evaluation. No threats to the public were made. This led to SCSU Alert.

The campus is operating as normally scheduled. SCSU Public Safety officers will continue to monitor campus safety conditions. The messaging error has been resolved for future emergency situations.

The university issued a 'shelter in place" statement due to reports of a suspicious person on campus.

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