NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Police Department says a Tulane University employee shot themselves inside a building on the downtown campus Friday morning.
The incident caused one floor of the building to be shut down.
Investigators described the employee as an animal care technician. He got inside the Hutchinson Memorial building with a gun and shot himself on the 9th floor.
"We have security at the desk and police on patrol; he was able to get the gun in when he reported to work," Kirk Bouyelas, Chief of Police for Tulane University, said.
The employee is in critical condition, according to NOPD.
According to the university, the Hutchinson Building reopened at 9 a.m.
Tulane University sent out the following statement:
At approximately 7:50 a.m. today, April 19, 2024, an Animal Care Technician employed by Tulane University shot himself inside the Hutchinson Memorial Building (School of Medicine) 1430 Tulane Ave., on Tulane's downtown campus. The employee is being treated at University Medical Center. We are still gathering information on this incident. There is no ongoing threat at this time. Hutchinson Building reopened at 9 a.m. Resources are available to any Tulane community member affected by this deeply troubling incident.
Students can call: 504-264-6074
Employees can call: 1-800-624-5544
NOPD sent out the following statement:
At about 7:41 a.m. today (April 19, 2024), NOPD officers received notification of an incident at the Tulane School of Medicine in the 1400 block of Tulane Avenue involving an armed subject inside of a building on campus. Within three minutes, NOPD officers joined Tulane Police Department officers on scene and located an adult male gunshot wound subject. The subject’s injury is believed to be self-inflicted in nature. After receiving First Aid from responding TPD officers, the subject was transferred via EMS to a local hospital. At the time of this writing, the subject was listed in critical condition. The subject was determined to be an employee of the university.
No other injuries were reported in this incident.
There is no ongoing threat at this time. After an earlier evacuation of the building for safety precautions, the building was reopened at about 9:00 a.m. with the exception of a floor still closed for investigation.
The incident remains under investigation, including determination of possible charges against the subject. No further information is currently available.
The NOPD thanks the Tulane Police Department and university public safety staff for their partnership in this joint incident response.
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