Scott Shafer said he and his coaching staff were in a meeting watching film at Manley Field House when they started hearing helicopters ranging overhead. Then, they got an Orange Alert text message, much like every Syracuse University student.

“I think my wife was kind of mad at me because I snuck out to get home,” Shafer, the Syracuse head football coach, said, “even though I probably should have stayed in here.”

SU was on a lockdown after a shooter killed a 15-year-old on Hope Avenue in Syracuse on Wednesday night. Police were searching for the suspect in Oakwood Cemetery, just steps away from where the coaches were gathered. The lockdown ended just after 10:30 p.m., more than two hours after it began.

Shafer said the protocol for the team was the same as what the university was suggesting. He told them to “be smart, listen to what they’re saying, follow those procedures.”

He likened the advice to what he said before Syracuse played in the Pinstripe Bowl. When the team traveled to New York City, the message was to stay in “well lit” districts and to not go to certain areas.

“Unfortunate situation,” Shafer said of Wednesday night. “But the reality of life.”