The ASU Police Department said there is no current threat to the Tempe campus following reports that students saw a person with a gun outside of a class in Murdock Hall Tuesday.
“There were reports of an incident regarding a firearm, our officers have checked out Murdock Hall and did not find anything that would indicate the building or campus was under any threat,” ASU police spokesperson Brenda Carrasco said in an email.
Following the incident, the instructor in the classroom, assistant professor Charles Perreault, sent out an email to his students shortly after the incident that circulated on social media platforms.
"What happened: during the lecture, at around 1 p.m., at least three students saw through one of the doors a hand holding an orange handgun that was pointed at the students,” Perreault said in the email. “When the students alerted the rest of the class, the handgun disappeared.”
The email then went on to alert the students that police suspect the incident was a prank with a BB gun and was not a threat to students.
ASU Police tweeted "Information regarding an alleged shooting incident on the Tempe campus is false," to which one student replied a photo of Perreault's email with the caption, "Is this not a threat?"
Students took to the Wildfire app and Reddit to express concerns after the incident.
"Hopefully the person responsible gets permanently removed from campus and arrested," one Reddit user said on ASU's subreddit page. "Even if it was a prank they could’ve caused deaths (I.e., their own or others by say causing a stampede)."
The ASU Police Department encourages all community members to report crimes. Anonymous reporting is available through the ASU Hotline at (877) 786-3385.
ASU also makes counseling and other resources available for community members who are victims of sexual violence, domestic abuse or similar crimes.
Reach the reporter at ivcrespo@asu.edu or follow @ziacrespo on Twitter.
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