UPDATE: LUPD takes suspicious individual into custody

Dec. 20 UPDATE:

According to an email from Lehigh University, additional information was released regarding the Dec. 18 incident involving a suspicious individual on campus. 

According to the email, the individual was walking behind a Lehigh employee near the Health, Science and Technology Building. The employee used FaceTime to make a call and show the individual following them. The suspect asked the employee if they worked at the university and who they were on the phone with. The employee then entered the Mail Center and immediately contacted LUPD. 

At no point did the suspect display a weapon or make threats, according to the email. 

The email stated LUPD officers arrived on scene and observed the suspect walking away. When officers approached, the suspect fled. LUPD officers and Lehigh security guards apprehended the suspect at the intersection of Fourth Street and Brodhead Avenue. 

According to the email, officers found the suspect in possession of suspected marijuana, drug paraphernalia and ammunition after the arrest. Officers retraced the suspect’s path and recovered an unloaded firearm from an area where the suspect had been located earlier. LUPD charged the suspect with weapons offenses, resisting arrest and controlled substance offenses.

According to court records, the suspect was identified as Angel Luis Ortiz Jr., and his preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 31. 

Original Reporting 

The Lehigh University Police Department received reports of a suspicious male on campus today at 12:36 p.m., according to a HawkWatch alert. 

LUPD responded and identified the individual. Police also secured a firearm. The individual is in custody pending charges. 

University officials said there’s no active threat to campus. 

Lehigh University Police Chief Jason Schiffer said the incident was initially reported as a suspicious person, and the individual was immediately taken into custody, so there was no ongoing threat — which is why a campus notification wasn’t sent instantly. 

“(There’s an) obligation to notify if there’s an ongoing threat (to the community),” he said. “That didn’t exist because they immediately took the suspicious person into custody.”

Schiffer said the individual has no known connection to the university, and their intentions are currently unknown. Officers are working to finalize charges, and he will be arraigned through Northampton County Court, with information available through public court records following the arraignment.