Security raised after gun threat

A 21-year-old Southeast Missouri State University student from St. Louis was arrested by police after he threatened a female student with a shotgun outside the Towers residence hall complex Sunday.

The action prompted school officials to step up security around student housing.

Lemell Harlston was charged Monday with the class D felony of flourishing a shotgun in an angry or threatening manner. Associate Circuit Judge Gary Kamp set bond at $7,500, cash only. Harlston was being held at the Cape Gir-ardeau County Jail late Monday afternoon.

If convicted, he could face up to a year in the county jail or up to four years in prison.

Art Wallhausen, associate to the president at Southeast, said DPS officers are patrolling more around campus residence halls and will continue to do so throughout this week, which is the last week of the spring semester. University officials have also decided to lock all exterior residence hall doors through this week. A room or building key will be needed to gain entrance to the residence hall floors.

Lemell Harlston

The incident occurred shortly before 5:30 p.m., Cape Girardeau police said Monday. Harlston was stopped by a Cape Girardeau police officer at the intersection of Sprigg and Bertling streets shortly after the incident, police said.

He was driven back to the Towers complex where two witnesses identified him as the individual who brandished the shotgun.

Harlston was taken into custody. As a result, school officials said, Harlston has been ordered to stay away from the campus. A source close to the situation said Harlston has been kicked out of school.

In a probable cause statement, an 18-year-old woman reported that Harlston pulled a gun on her and threatened to shoot her. According to school officials, Harlston threatened the woman because of long-standing altercations with another woman.

"It appears that the incident is connected in some way to a continuation of long-standing altercations between two female students, and directly to an incident at an off-campus social gathering Saturday evening," the university's Public Safety Department said in a brief statement issued Sunday night.

Cape Girardeau police Cpl. Jason Selzor said police responded to a report of a disturbance on the parking lot of the Osage Community Centre at 2:30 a.m. Sunday. That incident occurred outside a fraternity party, he said.

When police arrived, the party-goers dispersed, Selzor said. Later in the day, it was reported to police that two women had been assaulted in the parking lot by a group of women

Southeast activated its emergency response team of school administrators and security personnel Sunday night. "We had a fairly long meeting last night to talk about what would be the appropriate response," Wallhausen said.

Wallhausen said the university wants students to feel secure. "I think we wanted to reassure people that there was no crazy gunman running around like they had at Virginia Tech."

But Wallhausen said, "We are not going to take any chances that this could escalate into something worse."

mbliss@semissourian.com

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