Posted by Julia Leef
Following initial reports of gunshots in the North Woods area, Campus Safety received another report of gunshots heard last Sunday, Sept. 30, but have not yet had any follow-up information from the Saratoga Springs Police department.
According to a Campus Safety report, a person reported hearing gunshots at approximately 3:37 p.m. coming from the vicinity of North Woods. Campus Safety and Saratoga Springs Police officers canvassed the area and interviewed potential witnesses, but Dennis Conway, director of Campus Safety, said he did not think they would have any luck with the search.
Conway further explained that open deer hunting season in Saratoga Springs recently began, and that people also engage in target practice in the surrounding wooded area, which may explain where the gunshot sounds came from.
Campus Safety has requested facilities to make additional signs for the college area, cautioning hunters to remain off-campus.
The gunshots are not the only unusual sounds heard in the North Woods area. At 8:46 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 3, a person reported hearing a loud explosion from the Falstaff's parking lot, followed by a flash of light coming from the North Woods area.
According to the Campus Safety report, officers requested that an electrician respond to the area to check the transformers. The source of the explosion, Conway explained in a later interview, was a squirrel that got into the wires in the generating area by Falstaff's. The area has since been cleared.