Campus Alert Archive
TCC

An Armed Burglary Suspect Hid in the Woods Behind a Community College Campus, and TCC Southeast Locked Down for an Hour

TXarmed personemergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On April 16, 2013, Tarrant County College's Southeast Campus in Arlington, Texas was placed on lockdown around noon CDT after police reported an armed burglary suspect — described as wearing a black hoodie and having stolen a .22 firearm — was in the wooded area behind the campus. Students and staff sheltered in place for approximately one hour while police helicopters from Dallas and Grand Prairie searched the area. The lockdown was lifted around 1 p.m. CDT, but the campus remained closed for the rest of the day.

Alerts
3
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
Tarrant County College
Community College · TX
~47,000 studentsmyTCC Alerts
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 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 verbatimTCC emergency notification website statement, quoted in The Collegian (TCC student newspaper)123 chars
Tarrant County College Southeast Campus is currently on lockdown. There is an Armed suspect in the woods behind the campus.
TCC posted this exact text on its emergency notification website at approximately noon CDT, simultaneously alerting students through Twitter and email
The suspect was described in police communications as wearing a black hoodie and possessing a stolen .22 firearm
UPDATEWebsite
Approximate reconstruction300 chars
TCC Southeast Campus remains on lockdown as Arlington Police continue to search for an armed suspect in the wooded area behind the campus. Lockdown status restricts access to and from the building. Occupants are asked to remain in secured areas until notified by TCC police that it is safe to depart.

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

The phrasing 'Lockdown status restricts access to and from the building' is paraphrased from TCC's official emergency procedure language reported in news coverage
The campus was not evacuated; students and staff already on campus were asked to stay put rather than try to leave through unsecured exits
ALL CLEARWebsite
Approximate reconstruction184 chars
The lockdown at TCC Southeast Campus has been lifted. Police have completed their search of the area. The campus is closed for the remainder of the day. Thank you for your cooperation.

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

All-clear came approximately one hour after the initial lockdown notification, around 1 p.m. CDT, consistent with Fox News reporting
The campus was closed for the remainder of the day even though the lockdown was lifted
Police did not locate the suspect on campus before lifting the lockdown — the search continued off-campus
Context

Background

Tarrant County College is one of the largest community college districts in Texas, serving approximately 47,000 students across six campuses in the Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area. The Southeast Campus sits on a 152-acre site in Arlington adjacent to wooded areas — a typical layout for suburban community college campuses that creates inherent perimeter security challenges. The April 16, 2013 lockdown was triggered by an armed burglary suspect who had stolen a .22 firearm and was last seen in a wooded area behind the campus. Police helicopters from Dallas and Grand Prairie searched the area while TCC asked students and staff to shelter in place; the lockdown lasted approximately one hour before being lifted around 1 p.m. CDT, although the campus remained closed for the rest of the day. The incident illustrates a common pattern at community colleges, where off-campus criminal activity spills onto campus property and forces lockdowns even when no direct threat is made against the institution. TCC's response — combining Twitter posts, website updates, and internal myTCC Alerts — became part of the institutional muscle memory that would be tested again in subsequent incidents at the district's other campuses.
Analysis

Key Findings

The lockdown was triggered by an off-campus burglary suspect who fled into the woods behind the campus, not by any threat directed at TCC itself
Suburban community college campuses with wooded perimeters face inherent security challenges that urban campuses do not
TCC used a multi-channel alert approach — Twitter, website, and internal alerts — that was relatively advanced for community college emergency communications in 2013
The lockdown lasted approximately one hour and was lifted around 1 p.m. CDT, but the campus remained closed for the remainder of the day even though the lockdown was lifted
Police did not locate the suspect on campus before lifting the lockdown, raising questions about how community colleges should communicate the difference between 'all-clear on campus' and 'threat fully resolved'
Outcome
Lockdown lifted approximately one hour after it began, around 1 p.m. CDT. The suspect was not located on campus during the search. The campus remained closed for the rest of the day. No injuries reported. Police continued the broader search for the burglary suspect off-site.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    TCC SE Campus In Arlington On Lockdown - CBS Dallas / Fort Worth
    dfw.cbslocal.com
  2. News
    Tarrant County College on lockdown while police search for armed suspect - CultureMap Dallas
    dallas.culturemap.com
  3. national media
    Lockdown lifted at Tarrant County College after reports of gunman on campus - Fox News
    foxnews.com
  4. Student Paper
    SE faces lockdown as police seek burglary suspect - The Collegian (TCC student newspaper)
    collegian.tccd.edu
  5. Official
    TCC Southeast Campus - Tarrant County College
    tccd.edu
Tags
armed-personcommunity-collegelockdownshelter-in-placetexasoff-campus-spilloverperimeter-securitytwitter-alerts
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion