{
  "id": "2026-04-07-ccri-warwick-armed-person-lockdown",
  "slug": "ccri-warwick-armed-person-lockdown-2026-04-07",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Community College of Rhode Island",
    "shortName": "CCRI",
    "state": "RI",
    "type": "community-college",
    "alertSystemName": "CCRI Alert",
    "enrollment": 13000
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2026-04-07",
    "type": "armed-person",
    "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification",
    "headline": "Report of a rifle in a backpack prompts a four-hour lockdown; air guns recovered",
    "headlinePublic": "Report of a rifle in a backpack prompts a four-hour lockdown; air guns recovered",
    "summary": "On April 7, 2026, the Community College of Rhode Island's Warwick campus went into [a nearly four-hour lockdown](https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/ccri-warwick-campus-lockdown/3929262/) after someone reported a man walking into the wooded area near campus with what looked like the butt of a firearm sticking out of his backpack. President Rosemary A. Costigan told students the college locked down [\"out of an abundance of caution\" in coordination with Warwick Police](https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2026/04/07/suspicious-person-prompts-lockdown-canceled-classes-at-r-i-college/). Police later recovered a backpack containing an airsoft gun and a black pellet rifle, and an arrest followed two days later.",
    "outcome": "All classes and activities on the Warwick campus were canceled for the rest of the day. Police recovered a backpack with an airsoft gun and a black pellet rifle but did not locate the person during the lockdown; on April 9, Warwick Police arrested 41-year-old Nathan Randall on a firearms charge.",
    "resolution": "confirmed-threat",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 0,
      "injured": 0
    }
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestamp": "2026-04-07T09:15:00-04:00",
      "channel": "facebook",
      "verbatimText": "Lockdown at the Warwick campus. Based on location, decide to run, hide, or fight. Seek shelter, turn off lights and silence your cell phone. Wait for all-clear.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://warwickpost.com/ccri-lockdown-report-of-firearm-wielding-person-nearby/",
      "sourceDescription": "Verbatim CCRI lockdown alert posted to CCRI's Facebook page at 9:15 a.m. on April 7, 2026, quoted by Warwick Post and confirmed by multiple local outlets",
      "annotations": [
        "Verbatim alert text confirmed: Warwick Post and multiple outlets quoted the full text from CCRI's Facebook page, posted at 9:15 a.m. EDT on April 7, 2026; the opening 'Lockdown at the Warwick campus.' campus-specifier was followed immediately by the run-hide-fight framework",
        "The trigger was a backpack with what looked like the butt of a firearm protruding, reported as a man walked toward the wooded area near the Warwick campus.",
        "CCRI chose 'run, hide, or fight' language rather than a standard shelter-in-place instruction, which is an active-shooter-response framework applied here to an armed-person-nearby scenario"
      ],
      "characterCount": 160
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "update",
      "timestampApprox": "Afternoon of April 7, 2026",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "Out of an abundance of caution, and in coordination with the Warwick Police Department, the college implemented a lockdown while law enforcement responded. All classes and activities on the Warwick Campus are canceled for the remainder of the day and evening.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2026/04/07/suspicious-person-prompts-lockdown-canceled-classes-at-r-i-college/",
      "sourceDescription": "Boston.com, quoting President Rosemary A. Costigan's message to students",
      "annotations": [
        "These two sentences are quoted verbatim from President Costigan's email to students as reproduced by Boston.com, so this alert is confirmed.",
        "The message canceled the full day and evening on the Warwick campus only, leaving CCRI's other campuses operating normally, a containment choice for a multi-campus system."
      ],
      "characterCount": 259
    },
    {
      "sequence": 3,
      "type": "all-clear",
      "timestampApprox": "Late afternoon on April 7, 2026, after a roughly four-hour lockdown",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from NBC Boston and WPRI reporting that the lockdown was lifted after nearly four hours; exact all-clear wording is not publicly archived",
      "annotations": []
    }
  ],
  "context": "On April 7, 2026, a report of a man carrying a backpack with what appeared to be the butt of a firearm sent CCRI's Warwick campus into [a lockdown that lasted nearly four hours](https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/ccri-warwick-campus-lockdown/3929262/). [WPRI reported](https://www.wpri.com/news/local-news/west-bay/ccris-warwick-campus-on-lockdown-due-to-suspicious-person/) that police searched the campus and adjacent woods and recovered a backpack containing an airsoft gun and a black pellet rifle, but did not find the person during the lockdown. President Rosemary A. Costigan told students the college acted [\"out of an abundance of caution\" and canceled the rest of the day](https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2026/04/07/suspicious-person-prompts-lockdown-canceled-classes-at-r-i-college/). Two days later, [Warwick Police arrested 41-year-old Nathan Randall](https://turnto10.com/news/local/warwick-police-arrest-man-accused-of-prompting-lockdown-at-ccri-warwick-campus-posessing-firearm-charge-april-9-2026) on a charge of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. The case shows how a community college (a sector with many commuter students and fewer resident-life touchpoints) handled a sustained armed-person lockdown, and how an ambiguous object (a pellet rifle visible in a backpack) justified a full emergency notification.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "CCRI's Warwick campus held a nearly four-hour lockdown on April 7, 2026 after a report of a man with what looked like a firearm in his backpack",
    "President Costigan's verbatim message framed the lockdown as 'out of an abundance of caution' and canceled all Warwick activities for the day and evening",
    "Police recovered a backpack containing an airsoft gun and a black pellet rifle but did not locate the person during the lockdown",
    "Warwick Police arrested 41-year-old Nathan Randall on a firearms charge two days later, on April 9, 2026"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Suspicious person prompts lockdown, canceled classes at R.I. college - Boston.com",
      "url": "https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2026/04/07/suspicious-person-prompts-lockdown-canceled-classes-at-r-i-college/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "CCRI Warwick campus lockdown lifted after report of possible armed person - NBC Boston",
      "url": "https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/ccri-warwick-campus-lockdown/3929262/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Police searching for person of interest after lockdown at CCRI's Warwick campus - WPRI",
      "url": "https://www.wpri.com/news/local-news/west-bay/ccris-warwick-campus-on-lockdown-due-to-suspicious-person/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Warwick police arrest man in connection with lockdown at CCRI Warwick campus - WJAR",
      "url": "https://turnto10.com/news/local/warwick-police-arrest-man-accused-of-prompting-lockdown-at-ccri-warwick-campus-posessing-firearm-charge-april-9-2026",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Verbatim CCRI lockdown alert posted to CCRI's Facebook page at 9:15 a.m. on April 7, 2026, quoted by Warwick Post and co",
      "url": "https://warwickpost.com/ccri-lockdown-report-of-firearm-wielding-person-nearby/",
      "type": "local-media"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "medium",
  "tags": [
    "armed-person",
    "lockdown",
    "rhode-island",
    "community-college",
    "warwick",
    "pellet-rifle",
    "emergency-notification"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-28",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-16",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}