BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Bloomington police were searching Friday for an armed woman they say robbed a convenience store near the Indiana University campus, prompting the school to issue an emergency alert to students and staff.
University officials issued the alert early Friday, calling for people on campus to take shelter and lock their doors. About 40 minutes later, the school issued an all-clear for the campus about 50 miles south of Indianapolis but urged faculty, staff and students to report anything unusual they might see.
“The campus community is back to normal. We’re just telling people to remain vigilant and if they see something to say something,” IU spokeswoman Margie Smith-Simmons said around noon Friday.
Capt. Steve Kellams, a spokesman for Bloomington police, said a woman armed with a handgun entered a Village Pantry shortly before 5:40 a.m., struck the clerk in the head with the gun, and then fled the scene with an undisclosed amount of cash. The clerk sustained a minor laceration.
Kellams said no one had been arrested in the robbery by midday Friday, but added that police “do not believe that the general public is in any danger.”
The university sent the original alert because the store is near the IU campus, where Smith-Simmons said student move-in day was Wednesday ahead of Monday’s scheduled start of classes for about 30,000 students.
