Campus Alert Archive
SRSU

An Hour of Lockdown in Alpine Over a Report of a Man With a Long Gun

TXarmed personemergency notificationmedium confidence
UnfoundedNo evidence of an actual threat was found. The institutional response is documented because the alert communication is identical to what would occur during a real incident.

Sul Ross State University's remote Alpine campus in far West Texas was placed on lockdown the afternoon of March 28, 2022, after a report of an armed suspect carrying a long gun on campus. The lockdown began around 4 p.m. CDT, with President Pete Gallego asking the campus to shelter in place on Twitter/X. The all-clear came just after 5 p.m. CDT, roughly one hour later, after a sweep by the Alpine Police Department and Brewster County Sheriff's Office found nothing out of the ordinary.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
—
Injured
—
Institution
Sul Ross State University
Public Masters · TX
~2,000 studentsSul Ross Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTTwitter/X
Verified verbatimMarfa Public Radio, quoting President Pete Gallego's verbatim Twitter/X post; also quoted in the Sul Ross Skyline student newspaper181 chars
I've asked the Sul Ross University campus in Alpine, Texas to shelter in place while our university PD and local law enforcement agencies investigate a report of a possible shooter.
Verbatim text of President Pete Gallego's official Twitter/X post (also distributed by email), quoted in full by Marfa Public Radio and the Sul Ross Skyline student newspaper. Gallego, not a branded 'Sul Ross Alert' system, was the public face of the shelter-in-place notice.
Alpine sits in far West Texas but observes Central Time; only the El Paso area of Texas is on Mountain Time, so timestamps here use CDT.
ALL CLEARTwitter/X
Approximate reconstruction139 chars
Sul Ross Alert: All clear. The lockdown has been lifted. A sweep of campus found nothing out of the ordinary. Normal operations may resume.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed all-clear; President Gallego's verbatim Twitter/X all-clear was only partially quoted ('Happy to report an all clear for the Sul Ross campus in #AlpineTx'), so the full message text could not be confirmed verbatim.
Per Marfa Public Radio, the all-clear came just after 5 p.m. CDT — roughly one hour after the 4 p.m. lockdown began — reflecting how quickly even an isolated rural campus cleared an unverified armed-person report once the sweep finished.
Context

Background

Sul Ross State University, 'The Frontier University of Texas,' sits in the small town of Alpine in remote Brewster County, far West Texas. On the afternoon of March 28, 2022, the campus was placed on lockdown around 4 p.m. CDT after a report of an armed suspect carrying a long gun. President Pete Gallego announced the shelter-in-place on Twitter/X and by email, writing that he had asked the campus to shelter in place while university police and local law enforcement investigated a report of a possible shooter. The Alpine Police Department and Brewster County Sheriff's Office responded and swept the campus; no suspected rifleman was found. Gallego tweeted that he was 'happy to report an all clear' just after 5 p.m. CDT, roughly an hour after the lockdown began, with the sweep finding nothing out of the ordinary. The case shows how a small, isolated campus relied on its president's own social-media account rather than a branded alert feed, and it is distinct from an earlier 2013 rifleman lockdown at the same university.
Analysis

Key Findings

Sul Ross State's Alpine campus locked down for roughly one hour on March 28, 2022, over a report of a man with a long gun
The shelter-in-place and all-clear were communicated through President Pete Gallego's personal Twitter/X account and email rather than a branded campus alert system
A sweep by Alpine PD and the Brewster County Sheriff's Office found no suspect and no weapon
Far West Texas Alpine is on Central Time, not Mountain Time, despite its western location
Outcome
A campus-wide sweep found no suspect and no weapon. The lockdown was lifted with the all-clear, and no injuries were reported.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    UPDATE: Sul University "All Clear" Following Lockdown - San Angelo LIVE
    sanangelolive.com
  2. News
    Sul Ross State University Goes on Lockdown, Suspected Rifleman Not Found - NewsWest 9
    newswest9.com
  3. News
    Sul Ross State University given all clear from Alpine Police - CBS 7
    cbs7.com
  4. News
    "All Clear" after shelter-in-place issued at Sul Ross State University - Marfa Public Radio
    marfapublicradio.org
Tags
armed-personlockdowntexaswest-texasalpineemergency-notificationunfoundedrural-campusUnfounded
Added May 2026Updated June 2026Via ingestion