A Bermudian student studying in the United States recounted her college’s lockdown amid a week of on-campus violence in the country.

Shia Bean, 17, was forced to stay in her dormitory for 3½ hours at Clark Atlanta University in Georgia as police swept the area after a threat against the school.

Miss Bean said that although everyone turned out to be safe, it was the second time in two weeks that a safety incident had happened at the campus.

She explained: “A few weeks ago, there was an incident where someone apparently had a shotgun but I don’t know what happened with that.”

The first incident, which was reported on August 29, was later confirmed as not a credible threat.

Miss Bean added: “Because we don’t really get shootings in Bermuda, I was a little panicked, but it wasn’t my first time dealing with something like this so I wasn’t too panicked.”

Clark Atlanta University was one of eight historically Black colleges and universities to issue a lockdown or shelter-in-place warning after threats were made to the safety of their campuses on Thursday.

Miss Bean, who started attending Clark Atlanta University this month, said that she and a friend were on their way from the nearby Spelman College campus when she received an e-mail on her phone.

She explained that owing to a safety threat, texts and e-mails warning of a lockdown or shelter in place were sent out.

Miss Bean added that this alert was followed by instructions over the campus intercoms for everyone to get to their dormitories immediately.

“We quickly went to my dorm and just stayed there,” she recalled.

“Nobody knew what was going on but everyone was trying to get back into their rooms.

“All we knew was to shelter in place and not move.”

She added: “At some point during the lockdown, I saw people running to their dorms.

“I think they were just trying to get back home.”

Miss Bean said that the lockdown lasted until about 3pm, when campus and county police completed a sweep of the entire school.

She said that she had not seen anything suspicious and did not know what the threat was, but that she later felt confident no one had been hurt.

Miss Bean explained: “If something had happened then we would have seen so many more people running and it would have been all over the group chats that I’m in.”

The threats to historically Black colleges and universities followed an incident on Wednesday when Charlie Kirk, a conservative political commentator, was shot and killed during an event at Utah Valley University.

That same day, a gunman in Colorado opened fire at Evergreen High School and critically injured two pupils before taking his own life.

Miss Bean said that no one was looking at how to end the recent spat of violence.

She explained: “No one’s talking about what’s happening to us.

“I’ve had to keep my head on a swivel since then and I don’t go out as much right now.

“I have to be cautious. I keep an eye on who crosses my window now when I see someone crossing it because you don’t always know what someone’s up to.”

However, Miss Bean said that she turned to her faith to get her through the difficult times.

She said: “I can’t control what happens and I can’t control what people do when they come to campus.

“All I can do is pray and trust God will look over me.”

Miss Bean assured the public that despite the two incidents, she was still safe and looked forward to the coming school year.