At least 2 people were killed and several more injured in a shooting in the area ofBrown Universityon Saturday, a law enforcement official said, as the Ivy League school issued anactive shooteralert and urged students and staff to take shelter during the second day of final exams.

Police did not immediately release details about the number of victims, their conditions or the circumstances of the shooting. The official who gave the tally of at least two dead could not publicly discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

University officials initially told students and staff that a suspect was in custody, before later saying that was not the case and that police were still searching for a suspect or suspects, according to alerts issued through Browns emergency notification system.

Were still getting information about whats going on, but were just telling people to lock their doors and to stay vigilant, said Providence Councilmember John Goncalves, whose ward includes the Brown campus. As a Brown alum, someone who loves the Brown community and represents this area, Im heartbroken. My heart goes out to all the family members and the folks whove been impacted.

Earlier on, contradictory information was circulating about the whereabouts of the shooter.

At first President Donald Trump said that the suspect was in custody but then later issued a correction explaining that the situation is ongoing.

The reported shooting occurred near the Barus & Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the universitys School of Engineering and physics department. According to the universitys website, the building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices.

Students were urged to shelter in place as police responded to the scene, and people were told to avoid the area. Officials cautioned that information remained preliminary as investigators worked to determine what had occurred.

Police were actively investigating and still gathering information from the scene, said Kristy DosReis, the chief public information officer for the city of Providence.

Brown is a private, nonprofit Ivy League institution with roughly 7,300 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate students. Saturday was the second day of final exams for the fall semester.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)

Originally published on France24