Person Spotted With Ax Puts Wheaton's Norton Campus On High Alert

NORTON — The report of a person with an ax that drew an emergency shelter order on the Wheaton College campus Wednesday turned out to be a student headed to his off-campus apartment to chop up some discarded materials. A Wheaton statement said the man reported himself as the person of interest — and was not a threat — after security and police descended on the Norton campus, and students and staff were told to barricade themselves in secure rooms.

"We would like to thank the prompt response and cooperation of our partners at the Norton Police Department and thank the campus community for their proper response to the emergency notification system," Wheaton College said in a statement late Wednesday afternoon.

Wheaton College had advised anyone on the Norton campus to go to a secure room and lock or barricade the door after the person with an ax was spotted on campus about 2:30 Wednesday afternoon. Wheaton posted on social media that the person was spotted near Howard Street.

About 30 minutes after the initial alert, Wheaton and Norton police said that the person had been found and was not considered a threat.

Wheaton College campus is all clear. The call was a good intent call. The person was located and is not a threat.
— Norton Police Dept. (@NortonMaPolice) February 5, 2020

Norton Police and Wheaton Public Safety responded to the initial report and anyone not on campus Wednesday afternoon was asked to stay away until campus officials notified the public that everything was clear. That "ALL CLEAR" notification came about 3:15 p.m.

An individual with an ax weapon has been seeing on the Wheaton campus near Howard Street. Norton Police and WheatonPublic Safety are responding to the scene if you are on campus go to the nearest secure room, lock or barricade the door and await further instructions
— Wheaton College (MA) (@wheaton) February 5, 2020

Classes resumed later Wednesday afternoon.