Campus Alert Archive
AU

"Dangerous Subject On Or Near Campus": 30 Words That Locked Down American University on a Saturday Evening

DCpolice activityemergency notificationhigh confidence
Confirmed Threat

On the evening of April 27, 2024, American University in Washington, DC was placed on lockdown after students on an AU shuttle bus reported that a man had pointed a weapon at them at Nebraska Avenue and Ward Circle. The Urgent AU Alert went out using the textbook Run-Hide-Fight framing — 'If outside, leave campus immediately. If inside, hide in a secure location, lock doors, avoid windows' — while AUPD tracked the suspect and DC Metropolitan Police moved in to make the arrest.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
American University
Private R1 · DC
~14,000 studentsAU Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence · 2 verified verbatim

INITIAL ALERTTwitter/X
Verified verbatimAmerican University Police Department X/Twitter post156 chars
Urgent AU Alert: Dangerous subject on or near campus. If outside, leave campus immediately. If inside, hide in a secure location, lock doors, avoid windows.
Verbatim from the @AmericanUPolice X/Twitter account post on April 27, 2024
'Dangerous subject' is AU's standard phrasing for a person posing a threat — vague enough to cover an active shooter, a person with a knife, or a person with what appears to be a weapon
Inverts the typical Run-Hide-Fight ordering: 'leave campus' for outdoor recipients first because the subject was last seen at Ward Circle, a campus edge
Uses 'on or near' to acknowledge AU's hard-to-define urban boundary at Nebraska Avenue
ALL CLEARTwitter/X
Verified verbatimAU Alerts official X/Twitter account (@AUAlerts) — verbatim all-clear post on April 27, 2024, matching the same status-number series as the initial AUPD alert53 chars
Urgent AU Alert: The subject is in custody. All clear
Verbatim from the official @AUAlerts X/Twitter account on April 27, 2024 — companion post to @AmericanUPolice status 1784344342833799245 that carried the initial alert
'The subject is in custody' confirms MPD completed the arrest; the all-clear is issued by the AU Alerts system, not directly by AUPD's own account
MPD, not AUPD, made the arrest because AU sworn police did not carry firearms at the time of this incident — a fact that drove subsequent community forums on whether to arm AUPD
Context

Background

American University sits in northwest Washington, DC, on a 90-acre campus at the corner of Nebraska Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue. Around 5:45 PM EDT on Saturday, April 27, 2024, students aboard an AU shuttle bus near Ward Circle reported to AUPD that a man had pulled out a weapon and pointed it at them. AUPD officers initially spotted a subject matching the description off campus; when the subject began walking toward AU's grounds, AUPD initiated a campus-wide shelter-in-place lockdown and called the Metropolitan Police Department for armed support. The subject was arrested by MPD outside the School of International Service at the intersection of Nebraska Avenue and New Mexico Avenue. No weapon was recovered, but MPD charged the individual with felony threats. The incident — coming just two months after AU extended a campus safety review through fall 2024 — accelerated the university's ongoing community deliberation about whether to arm AUPD officers, who at the time of this lockdown carried only batons and pepper spray.
Analysis

Key Findings

Demonstrated AU's reliance on MPD for armed response — AUPD officers were not armed in April 2024 and could only contain and track the subject
The 'on or near campus' phrasing reflects AU's permeable urban boundary at Nebraska Avenue and Ward Circle, which is a public DC traffic circle, not university property
Triggered renewed community forums on arming AU police — the question was unresolved through the October 2024 second campus alert incident at Anderson Hall
The initial alert reached the AU community on a Saturday evening, demonstrating that AU Alert delivers identically regardless of academic calendar status
No weapon was ultimately recovered, but the charge of 'felony threats' indicates DC prosecutors determined the threat itself was the crime
Outcome
The suspect was arrested by Metropolitan Police Department officers outside the School of International Service at Nebraska Avenue and New Mexico Avenue. No weapon was recovered at the scene, but MPD charged the individual with felony threats. No injuries were reported on campus.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Official
    American University Police on X — Urgent AU Alert: Dangerous subject on or near campus
    x.com
  2. News
    Weapon pointed at American University students prompted lockdown, suspect arrested — WJLA
    wjla.com
  3. News
    Man arrested after American University campus locked down — NBC4 Washington
    nbcwashington.com
  4. Student Paper
    BREAKING: 'Dangerous subject' arrested on campus — The Eagle (AU student newspaper)
    theeagleonline.com
  5. Official
    Update regarding AU Alert — American University Office of Finance memos
    american.edu
Tags
police-activityprivate-r1washington-dclockdownshuttle-busfelony-threatsunarmed-campus-policeweekend-incidentrun-hide-fight
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion