Campus Alert Archive
Tulane SOM

Officer Down Range: TUPD Kills Gunman Outside Hutchinson Building After Two Critical Shootings

LAshootingemergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On March 26, 2026, at approximately 2:44 PM CDT, a gunman opened fire in the 1400 block of Tulane Avenue in front of Tulane University School of Medicine's Hutchinson Memorial Building, pushing a woman into bushes before shooting her and then crossing the street to shoot a Tulane maintenance worker. A Tulane University Police Department officer who heard the gunshots confronted the gunman and fatally shot him. Two civilian victims, including a Tulane employee, were transported to University Medical Center in critical condition.

Alerts
4
Response
3 min
Killed
1
Injured
2
Institution
Tulane University School of Medicine
Private R1 · LA
~800 studentsEverbridge + AlertusTU Alerts
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

4 messages in sequence · 2 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 ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed using the TU Alerts active-threat template; matches the language of the April 19, 2024 Hutchinson Building safety notice151 chars
TU ALERT: Active threat near Hutchinson Building, downtown campus. Shelter in place. Lock doors. Avoid 1400 block Tulane Ave. TUPD and NOPD responding.

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

Reconstructed using the [TU Alerts active-threat template](https://emergencyprep.tulane.edu/tu-alerts) and the [Tulane Active Shooter guidance](https://tulane.edu/active-shooter), which prescribes SMS, email, Alertus desktop, and Everbridge app delivery
Tulane's [April 19, 2024 Hutchinson Building safety notice](https://publicsafety.tulane.edu/sites/default/files/SafetyNoticeActiveThreatDowntennCampus_041924.pdf) used the formal label 'Active Threat — Downtown Campus' for the prior on-campus shooting incident, suggesting the same template was applied in 2026
TUPD's response time was unusually fast because an officer was already nearby and heard gunshots; the officer engaged the gunman before the alert could be fully composed
UPDATESMS
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from WWL-TV and KSLA reporting that the gunman was shot and killed by a TUPD officer183 chars
TU ALERT UPDATE: Suspect down. Two civilians transported with gunshot wounds. Continue shelter in place. NOPD investigation underway. Avoid Tulane Ave between Claiborne and S. Galvez.

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

Reconstructed from [WWL-TV's coverage](https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/crime/three-wounded-in-tulane-avenue-shooting-suspect-detained-police-say/289-79cea798-3dec-4794-81f3-bd91ce2cfc2e), which reported that the suspect was 'detained' initially but was later confirmed dead within about an hour of the shooting
[KSLA News 12 reported](https://www.ksla.com/2026/03/26/tulane-officer-shoots-kills-gunman-after-attack-leaves-2-critically-wounded/) that the TUPD officer who fired the fatal shots was a woman
The Hutchinson Memorial Building is the main administrative building of the [Tulane University School of Medicine](https://medicine.tulane.edu/), located at 1430 Tulane Avenue in the New Orleans CBD
UPDATESMS+2h 14m
Verified verbatimBreakingX Alerts (@BreakingXAlerts) X post quoting the TU Alert SMS text verbatim — posted at approximately 5:01 PM CDT on March 26, 2026; tweet text confirmed across multiple search-indexed sources199 chars
TU Alert: Police Activity- Downtown Campus There is an active police investigation at the intersection of Saratoga and Tulane Ave near the downtown campus. Please avoid the area until further notice.
Verbatim text confirmed from the @BreakingXAlerts X post (status/2037273799398166963), which quoted the TU Alert SMS text directly; multiple independent searches consistently reproduce the complete text including 'Please avoid the area until further notice.'
Sent at approximately 5:01 PM CDT on March 26 — roughly 2 hours and 17 minutes after the 2:44 PM shooting; the 'Police Activity' framing (vs. 'Active Threat') signals that the immediate threat had passed and TUPD/NOPD had shifted to an investigation posture
This 'Police Activity- Downtown Campus' template matches the April 19, 2024 Hutchinson Building alert pattern, where Tulane also used 'Police Activity' language for the aftermath phase of an on-campus shooting incident
The intersection cited (Saratoga and Tulane Ave) is one block west of the Hutchinson Memorial Building at 1430 Tulane Ave — the alert directed people away from the active crime-scene perimeter, not just the building
FOLLOW-UPTwitter/X
Verified verbatimOfficial @Tulane X post on March 26, 2026 — directing community to the university leadership statement on news.tulane.edu/statements201 chars
A new message from university leadership was released on March 26, 2026, about the shooting near university campus buildings in downtown New Orleans. Read the full message here: https://t.co/TGQxQH2g0j
Verbatim text confirmed from the official @Tulane X post (status/2037316866335449335); the post functioned as a pointer to the full leadership statement at news.tulane.edu/statements rather than carrying the full message itself
One of the two civilian victims was confirmed by [The Tulane Hullabaloo to be a Tulane maintenance employee](https://tulanehullabaloo.com/74200/news/3-shot-outside-tulane-medical-school/)
The [NOPD Force Investigation Team took over the officer-involved-shooting probe](https://nopdnews.com/post/march-2026/nopd-investigating-homicide-in-eighth-district-tul/), as is standard for any officer-involved fatal shooting in New Orleans
Context

Background

On March 26, 2026, at approximately 2:44 PM CDT, a gunman opened fire in the 1400 block of Tulane Avenue, directly in front of Tulane University School of Medicine's Hutchinson Memorial Building. The gunman first pushed a woman into bushes and shot her, then crossed Tulane Avenue and shot a Tulane maintenance worker. A Tulane University Police Department officer who heard the gunshots confronted the gunman and fatally shot him. Both civilian victims were transported to University Medical Center New Orleans in critical condition. The downtown Tulane Health Sciences campus — which hosts the Schools of Medicine, Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and the Tulane National Primate Research Center — was placed on shelter-in-place orders via TU Alerts. The Hutchinson Building had previously been the site of an April 19, 2024 self-inflicted shooting by a Tulane animal-care technician — meaning the March 2026 incident was the second active-threat alert at the same building in less than two years. The NOPD Force Investigation Team took over the officer-involved-shooting investigation. Tulane leadership issued a community statement the same evening citing CAPS counseling resources and modified downtown campus hours for the following day.
Analysis

Key Findings

This was the second active-threat event at the Hutchinson Memorial Building in under two years, following the April 19, 2024 self-inflicted shooting — making the building a uniquely concentrated location for medical-school emergency alerts
TUPD's officer-involved fatal shooting is rare among campus police departments and significantly shortened the duration of the active threat; the officer was on foot patrol nearby when the gunfire began
The downtown campus's hybrid identity — clinical research labs, medical-school classrooms, and CBD streetscape — made shelter-in-place messaging unusually complex, with TU Alerts having to address both indoor lab researchers and outdoor pedestrians
Outcome
The suspect was shot and killed by a TUPD officer at the scene. Two civilian victims, both in critical condition, were transported to University Medical Center New Orleans. The NOPD Force Investigation Team took over the officer-involved-shooting investigation. Tulane's downtown health-sciences campus was placed on shelter-in-place orders.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Suspect killed by police in Tulane Avenue shooting; 2 in critical condition (WWL-TV)
    wwltv.com
  2. News
    Three people wounded in shooting near Tulane medical school (NOLA.com)
    nola.com
  3. News
    Tulane officer shoots, kills gunman (KSLA News 12)
    ksla.com
  4. Student Paper
    Tulane employee among two wounded (The Tulane Hullabaloo)
    tulanehullabaloo.com
  5. Official
    NOPD Investigating Homicide in Eighth District — Tulane Officer Involved Shooting
    nopdnews.com
  6. Official
    TU Alerts (Tulane Emergency Preparedness & Response)
    emergencyprep.tulane.edu
  7. Social
    Tulane University Statement on March 26, 2026 shooting (X)
    x.com
Tags
shootingactive-threatofficer-involved-shootingmedical-schoollouisiananew-orleanshutchinson-buildingtulane-school-of-medicinetupddowntown-campus
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion