By Bert Case - bio | email
RIDGELAND, MS (WLBT) - Reports of a man carrying a gun at Holmes Community College launched a massive police response.
Ridgeland police believe it was all a hoax, but the investigation continues into a phone call that caused the lock down.
The two-year college is located on Sunnybrook Drive in Ridgeland. It is estimated there were between 2,500 and 3,000 students on campus at the time of the lock down.
A woman called police saying she had seen a man with a gun tucked into his belt in a college building, and he ordered her to "get the hell out of the way." She said she ducked into a female rest room and made the call to police.
The college became surrounded and put on lock down. However, police could not find a gunman or the caller. College President Glenn Boyce sums it up this way.
Students were confused because they had just been through a tornado drill as a part of severe weather awareness week. They first thought the lock down was a continuing part of the drill.
Things quickly returned to normal at the college, but Security Chief Jeffrey Johns said it was a serious situation if it was a hoax.
The school was on lockdown for some time and classes for the day canceled. Officials said evening classes met as scheduled.
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