UPDATED

Dave McLaughlin, Ashland University’s director of Safety Services, said that Ashland Police notified the university at 12:04 p.m. Wednesday that there was a “threat involving the international students, targeting the Asian students here on campus.”

“We talked to all three of the ACCESS classes that were in session and we kept them in there and we told them they would stay in there until we were able to get further information,” McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin said that at 1:02 p.m., Ashland City Police Chief David Marcelli called the university and said that the suspects had been arrested. 

According to the department’s Facebook page, Seph Valentine, 32, of Ashland and Tammy Lunsford, 54, of Perrysville were arrested after leaving a residence on Wednesday afternoon.

Detectives developed leads on the suspect in Saturday’s downtown shooting and that the person was allegedly targeting the Asian population in Ashland as well as local Chinese restaurants. 

Police also learned, according to the Facebook page, that the suspect had recently acquired two handguns.

Police say the investigation continues and charges are pending.

Marcelli did not return calls seeking comment.

————————-

International students from Asian countries at Ashland University were told to remain where they were earlier today, and ACCESS classes were held in the Kates Center for Family and Consumer Sciences after Ashland City Police warned that they might be the target of violence.

The threat was related to Saturday night’s shooting in downtown Ashland, when seven shots were fired toward Peking Restaurant, according to multiple sources.

International Student Services sent an email to students earlier today, shortly after noon. The email told those students that “The Ashland Police Department has informed Ashland University that Asian students may be a target of violence.”

However, by 1:30 p.m., a suspect had been apprehended, according to Scott Parillo, director of International Student Services. That was confirmed by an email from AU’s Public Relations Office, which said a suspect was apprehended, and there was no longer a threat to international students or the university at large. 

Dave McLaughlin, director of Safety Services at AU, would not comment. He said he was scheduled to meet with Ashland City Police Chief David Marcelli at 3:30 p.m. to discuss the situation.

A spokesperson at ACP said Marcelli and Captain Dave Lay were currently addressing the situation and were unavailable for comment. 

Parillo said he was told the suggestion to lock-down was related to the shooting at Peking Restaurant in Downtown Ashland on Saturday night. The Times Gazette reported on Monday that four Peking Restaurant patrons were standing outside when the shooting happened.

Parillo said there were four Chinese students downtown who were near the shooting. Three students had spoken to police regarding the shooting.

There are currently 110 international students from Asian countries on AU’s campus. 

Students in the Advanced Reporting and Editing class contributed to this story.