Reports of a man with a gun and a bomb have yielded one arrest at the University of South Florida, although no shots were fired or explosives detonated.
It’s unclear whether there is any merit to reports that lead to the arrest. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office received a call at 1:36pm, and transferred the caller to police. Students report that a loud siren sounded, along with a campus-wide announcement warning students to stay inside and lock their doors due to an intruder. 3,000 employees and 45,000 students also received text messages regarding the lockdown.
The Associated Press reports that at approximately 3:30, campus police reported a man on campus in a cowboy hat and black tank top, carrying a black puppy and a large hunting knife. However, CNN is displaying a picture of a man in jeans and a green polo shirt, who does not have a visible puppy. University of South Florida police Lt. Meg Ross spoke to CNN :
“We have someone we think may have been involved, but we have to investigate fully,” Ross told CNN.
“We have not looked in his backpack,” she said. “We have the bomb squad on their way to look at that.”
