Gunman Apprehended Without Incident Near Campus

By Lynn Freehill in Blog on October 12, 2012 at 4:34 pm | No Comments

The 69,000-plus subscribers to the University’s text-message alert system got a scare this afternoon when the University Police announced a man with a shotgun was roaming near campus.

An alert went out at 4 p.m. that someone wearing a shotgun and a gas mask was last seen at 24th and Guadalupe streets.

Five minutes later, UTPD sent out another message giving the all-clear, saying the man had been found and the weapon secured. The Austin American-Statesman reported police encountered him south of campus, at the corner San Jacinto Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard.

A police dispatcher said immediately afterward that the man had carried a training rifle, but she said no other details were available, including whether the man was a student.

Nerves went on edge on campus last month after a caller threatened campus with bombs in multiple buildings. The Forty Acres was evacuated for several hours as facilities were cleared of any danger, building by building.

Photo by BFS Man via Flickr Creative Commons