One person was wounded in a shooting at the Cole Avenue Apartments, a housing complex at 330 Cole Avenue, at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 22. In response to the incident, the College imposed an 87-minute lockdown of campus before the Williamstown Police Department (WPD) announced in a statement that the shooting was targeted and there was no ongoing threat to the general public. The incident remains under investigation by the WPD and Massachusetts State Police.

The Berkshire District Attorney’s Office said in a news release that the victim was transported to Berkshire Medical Center and is expected to survive, the Berkshire Eagle and iBerkshires reported. 

The College initiated its lockdown at 11:38 a.m. and lifted it at 12:55 p.m. During the lockdown, all buildings with card access were locked. In a campus-wide email alert, Director of Campus Safety Jeff Palmer and Director of Emergency Management Amalio Jusino asked members of the College community to remain indoors, stay away from windows, and avoid returning to campus if they were away.

In a joint all-campus email Sunday afternoon, President Maud S. Mandel and Dean of the College Gretchen Long directed students in need of support following the shooting to Integrative Wellbeing Services and the College’s chaplains. 

Jim Reische, special advisor to the president for executive communications and media relations, told the Record that the College’s administration had no additional information to provide.