Campus Alert Archive
Lafayette

Red Sweatshirt on Bushkill Creek: Lafayette College's Friday Night Lockdown After a Pearl Street Shooting

PAshootingemergency notificationhigh confidence
Confirmed Threat

On the evening of February 24, 2023, Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania placed its hilltop campus on lockdown after Easton police reported shots fired near Pearl Street, just down College Hill from campus. A woman was struck and wounded, and the suspect was last seen in a red sweatshirt running east along Bushkill Creek, away from the campus core.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
1
Institution
Lafayette College
Private Liberal Arts · PA
~2,700 studentsLafayetteAlert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence · 2 verified verbatim

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Verified verbatimWFMZ-TV (Lehigh Valley) live coverage quoting verbatim LafCol Public Safety (@LafayetteDPS) post137 chars
Campus Lockdown :: Reports of shots fired near Pearl Street in Easton. Suspect last seen red sweatshirt headed East along bushkill creek.
Verbatim text posted by LafCol Public Safety (@LafayetteDPS) on the evening of Friday, February 24, 2023 and quoted by WFMZ and NBC10 Philadelphia in real time
The shorthand 'Campus Lockdown ::' double-colon delimiter is preserved verbatim — a characteristic Lafayette Public Safety formatting pattern on social media alerts
Lowercase 'bushkill creek' is preserved verbatim from the original alert
Pearl Street is at the base of College Hill, blocks from the Lafayette campus core
ALL CLEARSMS
Verified verbatimWFMZ-TV (Lehigh Valley) live coverage quoting verbatim LafCol Public Safety (@LafayetteDPS) post87 chars
Lockdown Lifted :: EPD believes suspect fled away from campus. Investigation continuing
Verbatim text posted by LafCol Public Safety (@LafayetteDPS) lifting the lockdown — note 'EPD' (Easton Police Department) abbreviation preserved verbatim
Same 'Lockdown Lifted ::' double-colon delimiter style as the initial 'Campus Lockdown ::' alert — a consistent Lafayette Public Safety formatting pattern
Easton Police told WFMZ the suspect was last seen running east along Bushkill Creek, away from campus, prompting the lift
No injuries to Lafayette students were reported
Context

Background

Lafayette College sits on a hill above downtown Easton, Pennsylvania, at the confluence of the Delaware and Lehigh rivers. On the evening of Friday, February 24, 2023, Easton Police received a report of shots fired near Pearl Street at the foot of College Hill. A woman was wounded, and the suspect, described as wearing a red sweatshirt, was last seen running east along Bushkill Creek, away from the campus. Lafayette's Department of Public Safety placed the campus on lockdown via LafayetteAlert and instructed students to shelter in place. Easton Police searched along the Delaware River for the shooter while officers swept the campus. The lockdown was lifted later that night after NBC10 Philadelphia confirmed police believed the suspect had fled away from Lafayette. The incident was one of several gun-violence events on College Hill in 2022-2023 that prompted the college and city to evaluate joint safety responses.
Analysis

Key Findings

Demonstrated how off-campus violence at the foot of College Hill can drive a campus lockdown even when no shots were fired on Lafayette property
Suspect direction of travel (east along Bushkill Creek) was the key fact that allowed Easton Police and Lafayette Public Safety to lift the lockdown within roughly 90 minutes
Triggered renewed conversations between Lafayette and the City of Easton about how to coordinate emergency notifications for incidents straddling town and college
Outcome
Lockdown lifted after police determined the suspect had fled away from campus and posed no continuing threat to students. A woman was shot in Easton; a person was eventually taken into custody.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Lafayette College Lifts Lockdown After Reports of Shots Fired (NBC10 Philadelphia)
    nbcphiladelphia.com
  2. News
    Lafayette College in Easton lifts lockdown, police say person who may have fired shots fled away from campus (WFMZ-TV)
    wfmz.com
  3. News
    Manhunt for active shooter with Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania locked down (Euro Weekly News)
    euroweeklynews.com
  4. Official
    Lockdown procedures (Lafayette College Public Safety)
    publicsafety.lafayette.edu
Tags
shootingshots-firedlockdownoff-campuseastonpennsylvaniaprivate-liberal-artscollege-hillbushkill-creekverbatim-confirmed
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion