This is a developing story. More details will be added here as they become available and verified.
Final Update (9:15 p.m.): Police have released a detailed description of the events that led to Tuesday’s ongoing search for a suspect in the Cayuga Heights area. As of 9:15 p.m., they have also identified two suspects arrested in connection with the incident.
There was a report of gunshots in the 600 block of Hancock Street, which Ithaca Police responded to. According to police, the shots were reportedly exchanged between two groups of people, one group which fled in a car. No victims have been located as a result of the shooting.
That car was then spotted by a Tompkins County Sheriffs Deputy in the Village of Cayuga Heights, who attempted to stop the car. The car left the roadway and came to rest in a residential yard near the intersection of The Parkway and Klinewoods Road, in the Village of Cayuga Heights.
One of the three occupants of the car was then immediately caught. Another, who fled on foot, was apprehended a time later without incident. Police searched for another suspect, who was described as a Black man with dreadlocks, about 6’1″ in height with a medium build and a faded shirt. The person was last seen running through residential yards near Upland and Cayuga Park Road in Cayuga Heights.
However, as of 9:15 p.m., law enforcement said they now assume the suspect has left the area. Because the shooting dispute was between specific groups of people, Sheriff Derek Osborne said police do not believe that the at-large suspect is a threat to the public.
Two of the suspects were arrested, though. They were identified as Trimard Chris Campbell, 22, of Utica, and Ramello Quayshawn Jackson, 22, of Ithaca. Charges are being drafted by police, Osborne said. The identity and whereabouts of the third person are still under investigation.
Police did say they found a handgun in the area where they believe the third suspect fled. They also found shell casings at the scene on Hancock Street and an extended magazine in the car that was used to flee the scene of the shots fired incident.
The other group of people involved in the shooting was not identified.
Update (7:15 p.m.): Police have lifted the shelter-in-place in Cayuga Heights, according to a Swift911 alert, saying that law enforcement had concluded its search. However, as of 6:50 p.m., Tompkins County Sheriff Derek Osborne said that the third suspect was still not in custody. He also said more information would be coming later tonight.
Two residents of the 20 block of Renwick Heights Road, which police had marked as the center of their search, said they hadn’t seen the suspect on the run and were unsure why their street had been pinpointed.
Update (6:03 p.m.):
Update (5:40 p.m.): The shelter in place order has been reduced from five to a one mile radius around 23 Renwick Heights Road in Cayuga Heights. Police are working to apprehend an armed suspect connected to a shooting that took place in the 600 block of Hancock Street in Ithaca earlier today.
Update (5:30p.m.):
Update (5:25 p.m.): Residents within a five mile radius of 23 Renwick Heights Road in Cayuga Heights are being told to shelter in place as police continue to pursue an armed suspect connected to a shooting that took place in the 600 block of Hancock Street in Ithaca earlier today.
This area covers the entire City of Ithaca, reaching into surrounding municipalities.
Update (5:15 p.m.):
Update (4:55 p.m.): Tonight’s ICSD Board of Education meeting has been cancelled. All afterschool activities have already been cancelled.
Update (4:50 p.m.): Approximately 10 TCAT buses are moving again following a shelter in place order. Multiple routes will remain unserved as police continue to pursue a suspect moving on foot through the Cayuga Heights neighborhood.
Real time updates on delays and adjustments to bus routes can be found at TCAT’s Bus Tracker. and at tcatbus.com.
Update (4:21 p.m.): Police have released a detailed description of the events that led to Tuesday’s ongoing search for a suspect in the Cayuga Heights area.
There was a report of gunshots in the 600 block of Hancock Street, which Ithaca Police responded to. According to police, the shots were reportedly exchanged between two groups of people, one group which fled in a car. No victims have been located as a result of the shooting.
That car was then spotted by a Tompkins County Sheriffs Deputy in the Village of Cayuga Heights, who attempted to stop the car. The car left the roadway and came to rest in a residential yard near the intersection of The Parkway and Klinewoods Road, in the Village of Cayuga Heights.
One of the three occupants of the car was then immediately caught. Another, who fled on foot, was apprehended a time later without incident. Police are still searching for one suspect, who was described as a Black man with dreadlocks, about 6’1″ in height with a medium build and a faded shirt. The person was last seen running through residential yards near Upland and Cayuga Park Road in Cayuga Heights. Police said they believe the man is armed.
The other group of people involved in the shooting was not identified, and police further did not name the suspects who have been apprehended.
Update (3:50 p.m.): The shelter in place order at Cayuga Heights Elementary School, Boynton Middle School, and Ithaca High School has been lifted. It appears Cornell University is still telling students to shelter-in-place on North Campus.
Update (3:38 p.m.): Cornell University is confirming that there is someone armed travelling through Cayuga Heights. The University is telling everyone to shelter in place in North Campus or avoid the area.
Update (3:18 p.m.): Police have a helicopter flying over the vicinity of Cayuga Heights bolstering their pursuit of the suspect.
Update (3:04 p.m.): Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) buses are sheltering in place on Cornell’s North Campus. There are about 10 buses stalled in their routes.
Real time updates on adjustments to bus routes can be found at TCAT’s Bus Tracker and at tcatbus.com.
Update (2:53 p.m.): Following shelter-in-place orders at three local schools and Cornell University’s North Campus related to what is some sort of police pursuit, Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) is saying that an “emergency situation” in Cayuga Heights is prompting them adjust its routes through the area.
TCAT will not be serving stops along Triphammer Road between Jessup Road and Spruce Lane.
Real time updates on adjustments to bus routes can be found at TCAT’s Bus Tracker. and at tcatbus.com.
Original Story:
Three schools and Cornell University’s North Campus went into shelter-in-place operations Tuesday afternoon due to some sort of police pursuit.
Information about the actual crime police are investigating is sparse, but Boynton Middle School, adjacent Ithaca High School, Cayuga Heights Elementary School and Cornell University’s North Campus all entered into forms of lockdown. Cornell University put out a tweet just after 2 p.m. announcing a shelter in place. The incident did not take place inside of a school or on a campus, from what The Ithaca Voice can currently gather.
Meanwhile, IHS and Boynton both entered into lockdowns, and then a shelter-in-place order, during the afternoon, ostensibly due to the same incident that put Cornell into its shelter-in-place.
ICSD also told parents and caregivers to not come pick up their students at this time, until further notice.
This incident appears to be a dark, unfortunate coincidence with the threats IHS students received last night, and is not directly related to the phone calls threatening to “shoot up” the high school.