A glue gun caused a four-hour lockdown at Colgate University late Monday as police responded to reports about a gunman on the campus.
The campus, located in upstate New York, went into lockdown after reports were made that someone had "entered the O’Connor Campus Center while carrying what witnesses believed was a weapon," university spokesman Daniel DeVries said in a statement, according to HuffPost.
However, there was never an actual gunman. Instead, what witnesses actually saw was a student with a glue gun, which was being used for an art project, the news site said.
The university took to Twitter during the incident to warn students to be safe and take cover, claiming that the "threat" was at the Coop, a dining hall on the campus, according to the HuffPost.
"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," the university said in a statement shortly after midnight, when the lockdown was finally lifted.
"We understand that this has been a very upsetting evening on many levels," the statement continued. "Students who wish to gather at the chapel to be together can do so tonight at 12:30 a.m."
Despite Colgate’s apology, many students were disturbed when they found out that the suspected threat involved a black student, according to The Washington Post.
School officials addressed the matter in an email to the school’s community Tuesday morning.
"The events of last night have been deeply distressing to the community," the email said. "At a large gathering at the chapel, which did not conclude until after 2 a.m., many students expressed their profound dismay that a student of color engaged in academic activity could be identified as a threat to the campus."
Nikita Sachdev, a senior at Colgate, wrote: "I wonder what would had happened, had we not gone to an elite university. Would they have shot him?"
Twitter users weighed in on the discussion.
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