CHESTERTOWN — Washington College on Maryland’s Eastern Shore said it plans to resume classes Tuesday as police search for a student they say is missing and may have retrieved a gun from his parents’ home.
The small college was locked down Monday as officials looked for sophomore Jacob Marberger.
The 19-year-old is not suspected of any wrongdoing, but officers with the Cheltenham Township Police Department in Pennsylvania said Marberger’s parents told them he was “despondent over recent issues at college.” According to police, the parents said he arrived at their home about 3 a.m. Monday while they were sleeping and removed a rifle case. The parents weren’t sure if a gun was in the case or not, police said.
A man who answered the phone at the Marberger residence Monday night declined to comment.
Police in Maryland and Washington College officials decided to shut down the campus as a precautionary move, said Michael O’Connor, associate vice president for college relations and marketing.
“We don’t think there’s a direct threat to campus,” O’Connor said. “Right now, they’re treating him as a missing person. They want him to get in touch with his parents. … We’re all sincerely hoping and praying for a good outcome and that he gets found.”
Classes were canceled Monday, and faculty and staff were told not to come to work. Police cars from several agencies were stationed at entrances to campus.
Students initially were told to stay in their dorms but were later allowed to move within their buildings. They were taken to a dining hall in groups, escorted by police, for meals.
Freshman Hughes Moffett said he had stayed at a friend’s place off campus and tried to return to campus about 5 a.m. Monday to go to the gym.
“We were stopped by multiple police officers,” said Moffett, a business major from Atlanta. “It was like commandos with big … guns.”
Sophomore Andrew Chirico said he was among students moved from dorms to a dining hall for most of the day. “It was a long, rough day,” said Chirico, a business and economics major from Rockaway, N.J. Students weren’t warned they might be in the hall so long and were never told why, he said, causing some to become frustrated.
The college’s website lists Marberger as speaker of the Student Government Association Senate. The Elm student newspaper reported Marberger is a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity.
Marberger’s former school in Pennsylvania, Cheltenham High School, was put on a “precautionary lockout” Monday. Classes at the 1,450-student school proceeded normally indoors, according to Susan O’Grady, director of communications for the Cheltenham Township school system.
Marberger was listed as an endangered missing person by Cheltenham police. He is described as white, about 5 feet 6 inches and weighing 135 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes and was driving a 1997 green Range Rover with Pennsylvania license plates JWY 5876.
Police said they picked up a signal from his cellphone near Hamburg, Pa., early Monday, but the phone was later shut off. Anyone knowing Marberger’s whereabouts is asked to contact Chestertown police at 410-778-1800.
Washington College plans to open dining halls at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, with the full campus opening at 8:30 a.m. Officials said counselors will be available for students beginning at 8 a.m.
Baltimore Sun reporter Sean Welsh contributed to this article.