The Butler University Police Department (BUPD) issued a Dawg Alert on Sept. 22 at 2:37 p.m. stating, “There is police activity in the area of Lake Rd. & Sunset Ave. Please avoid the area. Additional information will follow.”
The alert was in response to the arrest of an unidentified male suspect believed to be carrying a firearm on Butler’s campus. BUPD officials were made aware of his presence after an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) sergeant in an unmarked vehicle entered the police department and shared an image taken earlier of the suspect on a nearby trail.
The possible juvenile was described over the police scanner at 2:29 p.m. as a “light-skinned, Black male [who is] thin, skinny, wearing black jeans [and] wearing grey Crocs.” At that time, his last known location was near the Sunset Parking Garage and Chatham Tap.
At 2:31 p.m., a BUPD officer reported over the police scanner that there were four marked IMPD SUVs parked in the Hinkle parking lot “for about an hour.” According to the police scanner, BUPD dispatch was “not aware” of the vehicles’ presence on campus.
By 2:32 p.m., officers reported that they could see the suspect on the south side of the parking garage being held at gunpoint by IMPD officers near Lake Road and being taken into custody. At 2:35 p.m., a BUPD officer requested a Dawg Alert be sent to avoid the area.
A BUPD case was opened under “agency assist” and “criminal trespass” at 2:42 p.m. and at 2:45 p.m. a BUPD officer requested another Dawg Alert issuing “all clear”. The alert was issued two minutes later.
The Butler Collegian reached out to BUPD for more information. BUPD Police Chief John Conley stated, “The suspect was not a Butler person,” but no additional information was available at the time of publication.
The Butler Collegian will continue to report on this story as it develops.