UMass Dartmouth Issues ‘Shelter In Place’ Order, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev A Registered Student [Update]

UMass Dartmouth has issued a “shelter in place” order, closing the campus effective immediately after it was revealed that at large suspected Boston bombing accomplice Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is a registered student at the school.

Update, 10:54 AM EST: A Facebook update reads, “UMass Dartmouth Parents – The campus is currently under evacuation orders. If your child needs transport from the campus, here is a list of local taxi service providers: http://local.yahoo.com/MA/North+Dartmouth/Travel+Lodging/Taxi+Services“

The UMass Dartmouth notice of evacuation or shelter in place was issued via the web Friday morning.

The notice read:

UMass Dartmouth has learned that a person being sought in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing has been identified as a student registered at UMass Dartmouth.

The campus is closed.

Individuals on campus should shelter in place unless instructed otherwise.

Return to this page for details as they become available.

Over on Facebook, an urgent but direct warning was posted to the UMass Dartmouth page, urging students to leave campus with haste — which seems to potentially conflict with the “shelter in place” warning:

“UMassD myAlert: Campus evacuation. Please leave campus calmly as soon as possible. Go to umassd.edu for more details.”

An hour prior, the UMass Dartmouth page warned:

“The campus will be closed today (Friday 04.19.13) and classes have been cancelled. Information will be posted to the main site as it becomes available.
www.umassd.edu”

Students and parents of UMass Dartmouth students expressed confusion as to whether the campus should be fully evacuated, or whether the “shelter in place” order supercedes the evacuation order.

The entity in charge of the UMass Dartmouth page replied:

“It also says ‘unless instructed otherwise.’ MyAlert evacuation order supersedes this. Again, please leave campus CALMLY. All classes are cancelled for today.”

Users apparently on campus report SWAT teams on the grounds of UMass Dartmouth.