An “armed person” who caused a “dangerous situation” at Colgate
University on Monday that triggered a campus lockdown turned out to be a
student using a glue gun for an art project.
At 8:05 p.m. on Monday Colgate University’s official Twitter account
posted “Colgate Alert: Because of a dangerous situation in the Coop,
everyone is advised to leave the building.”
Fifteen minutes later: “Colgate Alert: There is an armed person at the
Coop. Find a safe space and remain indoors. If you are off-campus, stay
away.”
Campus officials called in law enforcement to sweep the schools
O’Connor Campus Center, known as the Coop, and soon learned that what
some students reported as a person armed with a weapon was actually just
a student with a glue gun, according to The Washington Post.
The upstate New York liberal arts college eventually explained the situation – at 1 a.m. Tuesday.
“An emergency situation involving reports of an individual
allegedly carrying a gun has been resolved after a campus-wide search,” a
university press release read, according to New York Upstate.
“After thorough investigation, and with the assistance of the person in
question, law enforcement identified the individual as a student who was
using a glue gun for an art project, confirmed the misunderstanding,
and released the campus from lockdown.”
Several students and alumni who posted about the episode on Facebook
allege the glue-gun toting student was black, and chastised the
students who reported the incident and college officials for racial
profiling.
“Let’s not forget about the black man who was holding the glue gun and
was racially profiled for being the ‘shooter,'” student Nitika Sachdev
posted. “Where is the accountability Colgate?”
“This is absolutely shameful and disgusting. Nice one, Colgate
students,” Jessie Adams wrote. “Proud to be an alum of a school where
idiots think a glue gun looks like a weapon. No racial profiling going
on here at all …”
“Are you going to have a mandatory session about what REAL guns look
like?” Penny Dunn added. “EDUCATE your students Colgate, they look like
ignorant fools.”
“A 3 hour lockdown over a glue gun? The kids and their families
were absolutely terrified,” Marcia Lusk wrote. “How does this happen?”
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