14 DAY TRIAL // An alert about a gunman was set off at the University of Cincinnati yesterday. Campus police and local authorities rallied to locate a student carrying a weapon on campus.
However, the man with the gun was neither found nor identified. Nobody was injured and the school was on partial lockdown as officers searched the premises.
"As you might understand, universities are very touchy about reports of people with firearms on or near our campus, so we basically sent everybody that was on duty at this time over there," Interim Police Chief Jeff Corcoran describes for Fox 19.
The report about the gunman came on the medical campus after 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday. A nursing instructor at Procter Hall saw a teen taking a gun and kissing it.
"He had a large black gun in his hand. He kissed it, and then hid it inside his jeans as he was walking by the window of my office,” he told a 911 dispatcher.
"Okay, I'm going to get an officer started. If you are able to lock the doors, go ahead and lock the doors. I'm going to get him out there okay" the operator said.
Police were scouring the scene until about 3:30 p.m., WLWT adds. They believe that the man may have taken off on the Short Vine.
"Alert: Person with gun reported on Vine in front of Procter Hall. Stay out of area," students were notified via the campus alert system.
"Suspect believed to have fled south on short Vine. UCPD searching Procter & nearby buildings as precaution," a later alert reads.
The alert system also notifies students about off-campus threats, and it has helped reduce crime in the area.
"[We] Definitely hear about it a lot less. I think it's gotten a lot safer since even the four years I've been here," student Brian Boveri says.