Armed man holds two college students hostage in dorm at Oregon university, cops say
A 37-year-old armed man is accused of holding two University of Oregon students hostage in a dorm room, police said.
Shawn Scott Densmore was seen on video pulling a fire alarm in the William Knight Law Center building at the school on Nov. 4, university police said in a news release.
University police and the fire department cleared the building and found no fire or smoke, the release states.
But when authorities reviewed video footage, they saw him in the building carrying a gun and acting “erratically.”
Officials received multiple 911 calls from a person reporting other incidents on campus, police said.
Densmore is accused of taking the student’s phone and making the calls, police said.
Eventually a university police crisis negotiation team member made contact with the students who were in the Hamilton Hall.
They were being held hostage, police said.
Text messages with their whereabouts helped authorities track the students to their dorm room, police said, where Densmore was arrested.
Densmore was booked into the Lane County Jail and faces multiple charges, including menacing, burglary, criminal trespass, kidnapping and carrying a concealed firearm.
He has no affiliation to the university.
This story was originally published November 5, 2021 at 4:27 PM with the headline "Armed man holds two college students hostage in dorm at Oregon university, cops say."
