Active shooter reported at University of South Carolina

COLUMBIA — Reports of an active shooter threat on the University of South Carolina’s core campus in Columbia led to a police search after “no evidence” of a gunman was found within an hour of the initial alert on Aug. 24.

As of 7:30 p.m., the state’s largest university instructed people on campus to shelter in place as law enforcement searched for a suspect.

A Carolina Alert sent at 6:36 p.m. on Aug. 24 alerted students and faculty of an active shooter near the Thomas Cooper Library. By 7:10 p.m., the university said there was no longer evidence of an active shooter, but police were still searching for a suspect described as “a white male with black pants, approximately 6 feet tall and still in the area," according to the university.

At the time of the initial alert, the university wa