URI Lockdown Over: Shooter Never Existed

UPDATE 2:20pm:

The lockdown at URI is over.  A NERF gun was recovered by police at Chafee Hall.  State Police say there was no evidence at all that there ever was an active shooter or a firearm on campus at anytime today.

Earlier:  11:50am

The University of Rhode Island is reporting on their Facebook page that their Kingston campus is in lockdown as state and local police are responding to reports of a possible gunman inside Chafee Hall.  Police have not yet confirmed the report of the gunman. According to WPRI-TV, nobody standing outside Chafee Hall reported hearing any gunshots.

The TV station says that a woman who was inside a Chafee Hall classroom saw a student stand up and say, "I'm a nice guy! I'm a nice guy!". Then, when someone yelled out "He has a gun!" everyone bolted outside.

The school is urging all students, staff and faculty members to take shelter.

Rhode Island State Police Superintendent Colonel Steven O'Donnell has issued the following statement regarding the report of a shooter on the URI campus within the hour.
"A phone call was made in the last hour from the URI campus reporting an active shooter on campus. URI, South Kingstown Police, and State Police were dispatched to respond to the situation. At this time, we have no further evidence to support the report and are responding to the incident."
The Kingston campus has NOT been cleared. Instructions are still to stay where your are, indoors, until further notice.
Due to extraordinarily high volume, our homepage is not accessible. Therefore we have replaced it temporarily so that we can keep you updated on the ongoing investigation. --University of Rhode Island, Facebook

Classes have been cancelled for the rest of the day. We will keep you updated.