A shooting on the campus of East Central Community College in Decatur prompted a brief lock-down until authorities determined what had actually happened.

East Central president, Dr. Phil Sutphin, was in Jackson when he received a phone call saying that he needed to return to Decatur. A maintenance worker found a student deceased in his dorm room.

"Not knowing exactly what our situation was, we went into lock-down on campus, but we quickly found out that it was not a threatening situation and lifted the lock-down," said Dr. Sutphin.

It was later determined that the 23-year-old cosmetology student died from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. But, the lock-down sparked rumors of all kinds which quickly spread throughout the area.

"If you've got someone on campus with the intent to do harm, you try to do everything that you can to make the students safe," said Sutphin.

East Central authorities alerted students and faculty of the lock-down via instant messages and email, a system which has been in place for a relatively short period of time. In fact, it was the first time that the system had been used.

The college has also worked with the Newton County Emergency Management Agency to set up an alert system using text messages on cell phones. That system is not operational yet, but ECCC has began signing up students earlier in the week.

Many colleges are installing these systems because of previous campus shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois.

"Unfortunately, there are too many occurrences of that nature and it's something that's on your mind all the time and you want to do what you can to make your campus safe," said Sutphin.

Officials from Weems Mental Health will be on campus to provide counseling to any students that need it in light of recent events.

East Central Community College issued the following release around 12 noon Tuesday:

An investigation is continuing into the death of an East Central Community College student whose body was found in his dorm room this morning on the Decatur campus.

ECCC president Dr. Phil A. Sutphin said a preliminary report from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has indicated that the student died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Dr. Sutphin said the victim’s family has been notified and more details will be released at a later time.

“This is a very unfortunate incident and the College expresses its sympathies to the family,” said Sutphin.

Following the incident, the ECCC was placed on temporary lock-down. Classes resumed as scheduled.