Ohio University Police Department found no evidence to support a possible shooting or ongoing threat after an East Green search Tuesday.
East Green was reopened for normal use not long after police investigated a possible shooting in Gamertsfelder Hall and expanded that search to the rest of the green.
OUPD Chief Andrew Powers said at a news conference Tuesday evening that a man who said his name was John Jackson called "some type of Brown County emergency service" Tuesday to say he had shot his mother, that she was bleeding to death and that she needed help. Brown County is located east of Cincinnati.
The man said he was located at 58 East Green Drive, which is the address of Gamertsfelder Hall. Powers said that no one in the residence hall reported anything that would lead them to believe a shooting had happened nearby.
Powers said he did not know whether Jackson was mentally stable at the time he made the call.
Armed OUPD officers evacuated students inside Gamertsfelder and Tiffin Hall to Morton Hall over security concerns, where students were released at about 4:40 p.m.
Armed Athens Police Department and State Highway officers were in the East Green area. Emergency Medical Services was also on scene.
"Just remain calm," said Enrique Hermosilla-Palma, a residential housing coordinator.
The residence hall has been occupied by 208 students this summer, Powers said.
Police are also investigating why an object that resembles a .22 caliber bullet, discovered by an OU student and removed by OUPD, was in Morton's parking lot. It's not a caliber bullet police carry, said OUPD Police Chief Andrew Powers.
"It could be a complete coincidence," he said. It certainly isn't the first time that someone has found a live round somewhere on campus and called us... but that's what the detective job is -- to follow up on all that and try to figure whether or not it is a factor."
OUPD officers didn't allow foot or vehicular traffic between Morton Hall and Gamertsfelder during the search.
