Bemidji college lockdown lifted after gun remark, no threat found

Bemidji police locked down Northwest Technical College after a student made alarming gun remarks in an occupied classroom, then lifted the restriction once officers determined there was no physical threat.

Officers were called to the campus at about 10:40 a.m. on April 15 after reports of an upset student who allegedly said, “I need a gun” and told an unknown person to “bring me a gun.” Police quickly located the person, used crisis intervention techniques to de-escalate the situation and secured the building while the response unfolded at 905 Grant Avenue SE in Bemidji.

The student was taken for psychiatric evaluation, and police said the case remained under investigation with no further details released. WDIO reported the student was evaluated after making concerning statements in a classroom, while iNewZ.TV reported there was no gun involved.

Bemidji Police were not alone at the scene. The Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office, Minnesota State Patrol and Bemidji State Public Safety all assisted as the campus response moved from lockdown to clearance. Northwest Technical College and Bemidji State University share public safety services through the Minnesota State system, and the Department of Public Safety handles campus security, environmental health and safety, and parking enforcement for both schools.

The incident hit a campus that has spent more than 50 years training students for high-demand careers and was in the middle of its 60th-anniversary year. That made the lockdown especially disruptive at a school serving students in a city of 12,073 people, where a fast-moving call can pull in multiple agencies across Beltrami County’s large public-safety network.

For students, parents and staff, the timeline mattered: a report of a gun comment at 10:40 a.m., a rapid police response, a de-escalation by officers on scene, a determination that no physical threat existed and a return to normal operations after the building was secured. The quick resolution showed how closely the college and local law enforcement respond when a classroom report raises the possibility of violence, even when no weapon is found.