RPI has lifted its campus wide lockdown while police continue to search for the man they say robbed a check cashing store. Our Erin Connolly joined us from the Troy Police Department with more.

TROY, N.Y. -- RPI has lifted its campus wide lockdown that went into effect Tuesday morning as police searched for the man they say held up a check cashing business on Hoosick Street at gunpoint.

A state police helicopter was called in to assist Troy Police in locating the armed suspect, who they believed was somewhere near the RPI campus.

Police say a man in his mid- to late-20s walked into Regina Check Cashing Store on Hoosick and South Lake Avenue just after 8 a.m. He showed a gun to the clerk and demanded money, getting away with just under $40,000.

A short time later, college officials issued an RPI alert and students we spoke with say they were shocked to hear that a man with a gun could potentially be somewhere on their campus.

"Yeah, I was pretty scared. I mean, I didn't hear it before. So I didn't know what was going on," said RPI student Zachary Whiteman.

"Mostly, I was just worried that he was going to go onto campus and take somebody hostage or something like that. I was definitely worried that this could escalate into a much worse situation. You know, I'm safe here in the house, but I don't know about people who are on campus when it happened," said RPI student Kevin Menear.

That alert went out over loud speakers around the RPI campus, as well as text messages and emails to students and faculty.

While the campus wide alert has been cancelled, police are still looking for the suspect, who is described as a black male in his mid- to late-20s, around 5-foot-8 and 175 pounds with an open scrape on his face.

Anyone with information is asked to call Troy Police.