Editor’s Note: This is an ongoing breaking news story. Updates will be provided as they become available. 

A shooting was reported outside of Colorado State University’s Microbiology Building on Monday evening, Oct. 12.

At 6:02 p.m., a CSU Safety Advisory Alert was released indicating police activity and stating to avoid the area between the Chemistry and Microbiology buildings and to follow law enforcement directions. A later alert sent at 6:52 p.m. stated the area is all clear but that police activity will remain present. Officers from the CSU Police Department told The Collegian that the area, which is blocked off by caution tape, would remain closed off overnight.

The Collegian was informed by witnesses that the shooting occurred near the Microbiology Building. CSU student Daniel Bradford said he witnessed the shooting as he was biking near Center Avenue Mall.

“I was biking up to the center here, and I saw the cop walk up to the Microbiology Building,” Bradford said. “There was a dude standing out there who was screaming his lungs out. While I was biking past the cop car, that the cop got out of, the cop approached him and told him to put the gun down and dude started screaming.”

Bradford said that he heard 4-6 shots in total and said the shooter fired one shot before the police officer allegedly fired multiple times at the man.

“I heard one shot, and I’m pretty confident that it was the shooter,” Bradford said. “I know it was the shooter because the cop hadn’t even pulled out his gun. Then he pulled it out and shot the dude, like five or six times that I can remember.”

Tiana Kennedy, associate vice president of communications for CSU and the CSU System, provided The Collegian with a statement at 7:54 p.m.

“The Eighth Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team has been activated for an officer-involved shooting,” the statement reads. “On Oct. 12, 2026, around 5:35 p.m., Colorado State University Police received a report of a person acting erratically near Newton Plaza on Main Campus. An officer responded and located a man who was armed with a handgun and advanced toward the officer. Gunfire occurred and the suspect was shot. The officer immediately rendered first aid, and the suspect was transported to an area hospital for care. No other injuries have been reported. This was not an active-shooter incident. CIRT was activated and responded to take over the officer-involved shooting investigation. Fort Collins Police Services is the lead investigating agency and any further information regarding this incident will be released by that agency.”

On Oct. 13 at 1:37 p.m. CSU’s Office of the Provost sent an email to CSU community members that recounted the events of from Monday and addressed the safety alert process that originally alerted the community about police activity. According to the email, which was reviewed by The Collegian, the alert went out to over 48,000 email and text messages to campus community, however, the email says there were a number of people who did not receive the alert.

The email explains they “are currently working to understand why that happened and to fix the issue going forward.”

The email also acknowledged that digital screens on campus didn’t display a notification of the alerts. The email reads, “Campus digital screens are utilized for situations with an ongoing threat, which CSUPD determined was not the case here.”

The email provided resources for students and faculty and staff who wish to seek support, such as counseling through Student Support and the Employee Assistance Program respectively.

The email went on to explain there were reports of a student arrest in a residence hall Monday, which was said to be “unrelated to the incident near Newton Plaza.”