MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A man holed up in a hotel on the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus has two others with him in one of the rooms, university and police officials said Monday, but they have stopped short of calling them hostages.
Officers from the Minneapolis Police Department and the university are communicating with the man, who has been holed up in a room at the Graduate Minneapolis Hotel since around midnight, according to university spokesman Chuck Tombarge. Authorities have not said what led up to the incident or whether the man is armed.
An unknown number of guests were evacuated from their rooms. Although the hotel remained open, the university’s recreation and wellness center, directly behind the hotel, was closed, as well as area streets to accommodate police vehicles, Tombarge said.
“It’s just set up as a safe perimeter to prevent people from getting in the getting mixed in with police equipment,” he said.
The university said there was no direct threat to students walking to classes. In a text and online alert early Monday, the university described the incident as a “public safety situation” and urged individuals to stay away from the area.