Two missing University of Rochester students rescued after hostage situation

Police occupy a crime scene. (Michael Robinson Chavez/LA Times/Getty)

A SWAT team has rescued two New York college students after an apparent abduction and hostage situation.

Four suspects were taken into custody after the raid, WHEC Rochester reports, after the plot lasted more than a day.

University of Rochester seniors Nicholas Kollias, 21, and Ani Okeke-Ewo, 21, were freed late Sunday after they were reported missing on Saturday at 6:30pm. The students are currently recovering in a local hospital, one suffered a gunshot wound to the leg.


 Students Nicholas Kollias and Ani Okeke-Ewo University of Rochester
 (University of Rochester)

The University of Rochester released a statement regarding the rescue.

"University officials along with the Rochester Police Department are pleased to announce that the two University students reported missing have been found and are safe. The police investigation into their disappearance will continue, but the good news is that they were located this evening by the Rochester Police Department.”

University of Rochester President Joel Seligen added that there was a "collective sigh of relief" throughtout the campus community.

"The two University of Rochester students who were wrongfully held, for many, many hours have been successfully recovered, are healthy, are alive,” President Seligen said during a press conference. “There is a collective sense of relief tonight that all of us feel. This could have turned out in a very different way.”

The four suspects are expected to face charges ranging from assault to kidnapping charges.