Officials at the University of Rhode Island breathed a sigh of relief April 4 when threats of a gunman on campus turned out to be unfounded. Both campus police and state police offers responded to calls about a gunman inChafee Hall, one of the campus academic buildings that houses classrooms for various programs including economics, education and journalism. After word of threats got out, the university was placed on lockdown for two-and-a-half hours.
Word of the alleged gunman on campus quickly spread as students fled Chafee Hall in a panic on Thursday, many of them shouting that there was a gunman inside. According to the New York Daily News, some student witnesses heard shouts of “You’re a nice guy!” in the building. Students, per the recommendation of their professors, immediately started to flee the building.
Police quickly arrived on the campus, and began a search of every room of the building. No gunman was found during the search, and no dangerous weapons were recovered either. However, police did find several toy Nerf guns in the building and are investigating the connection between the toys and the reports of a gunman on campus. A game of Humans vs. Zombies was taking place on campus at the time, and police feel that it might have led to confusion and fear on the campus.
The New York Daily News reported that the game of Humans vs. Zombies is not supposed to take place in classroom buildings and no life-like weapons are allowed to be used during the game.
Once police realized that no one on the campus was in danger and there was not an active shooter, the lockdown was eventually lifted. There were no serious injuries as a result of the incident, but some students did receive minor injuries in the panic that ensued when people thought there was an active shooter on the campus. University officials have been praised for acting quickly, and as a precaution, classes throughout the rest of the day were canceled. All classes went on as scheduled the following day.
The incident has brought to life the conversation about gun restrictions and gun laws in the state of Rhode Island. It was reported afterwards that University of Rhode Island campus police were forced to respond unarmed to the report of a gunman on campus, according to WPRI Eyewitness News. University police are not able to bring guns onto campus due to an anti-gun statute that was instituted at the state level about 40 years ago. Both campus police and university officials went one the record to say that they are frustrated by this fact, and the debate among the community has started once again. Because the officials were not armed, they could only secure the perimeter of the building. It was not until armed state police officers arrived that they could all enter the building to try and locate the gunman. While the situation had a positive ending, these facts will surely restart the gun legislation debate once again.