Gunman at Panera in Princeton — Cops Close Nassau Street

PRINCETON — Police have closed off the busy downtown area near Palmer Square because of a man with a gun at Panera.

Police said man is inside the restaurant on Nassau Street between Washington and Witherspoon streets across from the Princeton University campus. It was not immediately clear if there was a hostage involved.

GUNMAN AT PANERA IN PRINCETON — COPS CLOSE NASSAU STREET

Unfolding right now just down the way from me in Princeton, NJ...

Not much info right now other than these small snippets...

"Downtown Princeton looks like an armed camp," photo journalist Brian McCarthy said, adding that Princeton Police, the FBI and SWAT teams are all present.

Can't get anywhere close, don't even want to try. Hopefully this ends without anyone hurt.

From Princeton Website


Some better info from local Princeton news Planet Princeton.

Local police, state police and the FBI are at the scene. Several police officers on Nassau Street have guns drawn. Police are trying to negotiate with the man, Chief Nick Sutter told Planet Princeton. Police asked the man to allow an officer to enter to negotiate with him. The man could be heard on the police scanner saying “no one is coming through those doors.”

Whoops...

Update: 12:04 p.m. – Princeton University sent out an automated phone message saying the school is on lockdown and that allegedly shots have been fired at the scene. We will update this post when we have more information. Update: 12:15 p.m. – Message goes out to Princeton University community saying the message about sheltering in place and shots being fired was a mistake.

They say a lot of people fled the store, hopefully, everyone is out and they are just negotiating with the suspect. If that is the case I wonder if he is trying to be killed.

Update 12:28 p.m. – Police sound like they are preparing to enter the building.

1 pm - that update was removed from news sites

originally posted by: CalibratedZeus

PRINCETON — Police have closed off the busy downtown area near Palmer Square because of a man with a gun at Panera.

Police said man is inside the restaurant on Nassau Street between Washington and Witherspoon streets across from the Princeton University campus. It was not immediately clear if there was a hostage involved.

GUNMAN AT PANERA IN PRINCETON — COPS CLOSE NASSAU STREET

Unfolding right now just down the way from me in Princeton, NJ...

Not much info right now other than these small snippets...

"Downtown Princeton looks like an armed camp," photo journalist Brian McCarthy said, adding that Princeton Police, the FBI and SWAT teams are all present.

Can't get anywhere close, don't even want to try. Hopefully this ends without anyone hurt.

how are the CC gun laws in NJ? Let me guess, there isn't a chance in hell anyone in that Panera has a gun besides the criminal.

NJ has some pretty strict laws, CC is a huge rarity so I doubt anyone inside would be armed other than the suspect. Only chance would be an off-duty officer but even they rarely are allowed CC.

a reply to: CalibratedZeus

2 in a day...

No words...

Evacuating everything on the block and immediate surrounding area now...

a reply to: FamCore

2 shootings in one day, does happen all the time. Usually they are in predominantly black areas, where as your statement kind of proves...most people don't count and/or care.

Anyone not familiar with this area, this is directly across from the main chunk of Princeton University and is a wildly busy area.

Why is this national news? Its a local lunatic doing what local lunatics do.

In other news, 2 people were shot at a local OReilly's Autoparts here 2 nights ago. Why aren't we discussing that, too?

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

You know why.

So much for caring about the people.

Everyone expects that in the inner cities, sadly.

Just like if two little girls are abducted, you know which one is far more likely to be a national story.

We love the little people so long as they're blonde and blue-eyed or we can tell everyone else how racist they are.

originally posted by: CalibratedZeus
Anyone not familiar with this area, this is directly across from the main chunk of Princeton University and is a wildly busy area.

Dr House finally lost his #. Bwahahahaha.....

I apologize for bringing something happening locally to me to broader attention. Why aren't we discussing the shooting at your local OReilly's? Did anyone bring it to our attention and it was just ignored or was it just never brought up? Not everyone scours other local news outlets for events...

But again, just something crazy happening near me I thought noteworthy, if it is not to you then please move along.

keep ignoring people when they say they are doing everything to improve their lives and it keeps getting worse

originally posted by: CalibratedZeus
I apologize for bringing something happening locally to me to broader attention. Why aren't we discussing the shooting at your local OReilly's? Did anyone bring it to our attention and it was just ignored or was it just never brought up? Not everyone scours other local news outlets for events...

But again, just something crazy happening near me I thought noteworthy, if it is not to you then please move along.

My point is, someone is shot somewhere in this enormous country on the daily. Over reporting creates bias.

Folks not living in the US think they could be shot at any moment living here. Its a very rare occurance, despite the national news spotlighting every instance.

a reply to: GuidedKill

"how are the CC gun laws in NJ? Let me guess, there isn't a chance in hell anyone in that Panera has a gun besides the criminal."

Panera has a no firearms policy on top of the horrible NJ firearms laws.

a reply to: GuidedKill

how are the CC gun laws in NJ?

well it doesn't matter...the entire point of CC is that nobody can see your weapon. even if its in a holster and you bend over to tie you shoe and someone sees it, that's brandishing and you go to jail.

ignorance is abound in this thread...

a reply to: SocratesJohnson

There are much more than 2 shootings in a single day, I'm not that oblivious. But we had a school shooting (with at least 1 deceased student) this morning, and now a standoff with an armed individual in a Panera Bread.

Perhaps some people don't care about the more common types of shootings, but moreoften they just aren't covered by the media in the same way..

originally posted by: FamCore
a reply to: SocratesJohnson

There are much more than 2 shootings in a single day, I'm not that oblivious. But we had a school shooting (with at least 1 deceased student) this morning, and now a standoff with an armed individual in a Panera Bread.

Perhaps some people don't care about the more common types of shootings, but moreoften they just aren't covered by the media in the same way..

Typically because of relevance.

Someone holed up in a Panera in NJ is as irrelevant to a guy living in central Texas as just about anything could be. Not complaining that i was exposed to the story by any means. Just pointing out why every single crime nationwide isn't summarized on the national news.

UPDATE 1 p.m.: Law enforcement officials continue to negotiate with an armed man whom Municipality of Princeton police have surrounded inside the Panera restaurant across Nassau Street from campus. The University will continue to post updates to the homepage at the top of each hour until the situation is resolved. Updates on urgent developments will be posted as they emerge.

Princeton University

Shelter in place orders for local schools and a few of the directly surrounding buildings are in place. Other than that still no word if anyone other than the suspect is inside the building.

UPDATE 2:30 - Nothing to update, apparently negotiations are ongoing. At this point, I am going to assume a disturbed individual. What his goals are who knows, I can only assume death by cop. Everything I read says they are pretty sure he is alone in the building BUT they cannot be 100% certain there was no one left behind in the initial scramble.

The mass media will not rest until every single person is stripped of their rights. Prior to that, every gun is to be removed form the hands of law abiding citizens.

Carry on...

originally posted by: JFA13
a reply to: GuidedKill

Panera has a no firearms policy ...

Which never, ever stopped me from carrying inside the establishment the maybe four times that I've been to that over-priced establishment.

Maybe these patrons could take a page from common sense versus stickers on windows--I would much rather have to explain to a judge why I was able to eliminate a threat in a no-gun zone instead of having my children attend my funeral--or vise versa.

I do generally respect a private business' ability to post a no-gun sign, but they must also respect my state's law that says that I cannot be arrested if I do so unless they tell me to leave and I don't.

I have never been approached by anyone about my weapon...must be concealing it correctly.

Also, I wonder when we'll start hearing about "near-school shootings" being a new term for things like this, where a street separated the actual boundaries of the campus. Hell, I'm willing to bet that some "legacy-media" person will refer to it as a school shooting at some point today, just for the ratings and emotional impact.

We must remember, there is a mid-term election coming up where the Dems are desparate to make gains in congressional seats...of course these shootings are getting more air time (and, IMO, increasing).