A California community college was placed on lockdown this week after a suspected rifle on campus turned out to be a large, blue and orange Nerf gun.
A faculty member at Las Positas College in Livermore on Wednesday morning notified the campus safety office of what he or she believed to be a student with a rifle partially concealed in a backpack, a local CBS affiliate reported.
The campus safety office alerted the Livermore Police Department and all staff and students were ordered to shelter in place while an investigation took place.
Livermore PD investigating a suspicious occurrence at Las Positas College - currently on lockdown status. Nothing further at this time.
— Livermore PD (@LivermorePolice) October 4, 2017
Officers said they located the student in a classroom and found the toy gun in his possession. The 20-year-old said he brought it as a prop for an event unrelated to the school and had no intention of causing a disruption, police said. He will not face any criminal charges.
Incident at Las Positas College result of a student bringing a Nerfgun on campus. No intent to cause harm or problems.
— Livermore PD (@LivermorePolice) October 4, 2017
“In this day and age everybody has to kind of think about what they’re doing,” Livermore Police Sgt. John Hurd told CBS. “There clearly was no intent to cause all this to happen. Somebody made a poor decision.”
Las Positas Vice Chancellor Doug Horned said officials are on heightened alert after a gunman killed 58 people at a country music festival in Las Vegas on Sunday.
“Perhaps on another day the employee would have just said that’s just a toy,” Mr. Horned told CBS. “But there is a heightened sense of awareness that any day, any time and anywhere we could be in danger.”
The school’s American flag was at half-staff Wednesday in honor of those who died in the Las Vegas shooting, EAGNews.org reported.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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