At least 1 dead, 1 wounded at Wyo. comm. college

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — At least one person was killed and another wounded Friday morning in an attack at a central Wyoming community college.

Police took into custody one person who was injured and may also have died following the attack that happened just before 9 a.m. at Casper College, school spokesman Rich Fujita said.

Authorities were searching the campus for any additional suspects, Fujita said.

“They are reasonably certain that the one and only suspect is in custody, but they told us they can’t be 100 percent certain there is not a second suspect,” he said.

The campus was locked down and students were advised to stay where they were until police gave the all clear.

Fujita said he had no additional information, including how the attack happened, what type of weapon may have been used, or who was killed.

Casper police said they couldn’t provide information because all their officers were at the scene. The Wyoming Highway Patrol was helping to direct traffic at the college, but a patrol spokesman said he had no information about what happened.

Political science instructor Chris Henrichsen said he was showing the film “Frost/Nixon” to his Wyoming and U.S. government class when he stepped into the hall to get something for a student and was told a homicide had occurred on campus.

He went back to his classroom, where students were getting messages about the campus lockdown on their phones.

“We locked the door and waited for further instruction,” Henrichsen said.

The class finished watching the remaining 10 minutes of the movie and remained locked down 20 minutes after that, he said.

The students then were sent home, but some who parked near a different campus building where the attack occurred had to leave their cars there, Henrichsen said.

Henrichsen said he saw nothing unusual or suspicious on campus before the attack.

Casper College is a two-year community college in Wyoming’s second-largest city. Casper, population 56,000, is about 250 miles northwest of Denver.

Wyoming residents refer to Casper as the “Oil City” because it’s a hub for the state’s small oil industry. The city is flanked to the south by Casper Mountain, scene of a massive wildfire in September that burned more than 24 square miles of forest and meadows and destroyed 37 homes and cabins.

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