Police Arrest Suspects After University of South Florida Lockdown
Monday, October 05, 2009
Two men are in custody after several warnings were sent to students of a possible gunman on the University of South Florida's Tampa campus.
A police spokesman told the Tampa Tribune a man stood up on a campus bus and said he was the one authorities were looking for. He told them he had a bomb, but later said it was just a hoax, spokeswoman Laura McElroy told the newspaper.
The first suspect, described as an African American male in a green and yellow striped shirt, was seen as he entered a police car around 3:30 p.m. Monday afternoon.
Shortly after students received a text message saying: "White male subject seen in the Cooper Hall area in black tank top, cowboy hat carrying black puppy and a large hunting knife-officers in route."
Cooper Hall is the campus' main lecture hall.
It was not immediately clear which suspect was the one on the bus.
Police called in the Tampa Police bomb team to investigate the first suspect's belongings.
Students had been told to stay indoors and away from campus Monday afternoon, according to the university's Web site.
A message posted by the university said that officers were on scene and began searching the area just before 2 p.m.
Authorities said an off-campus call was transferred to USF police from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. The caller reported that a man with a gun was in front of the university's library.
The campus transit system was shut down while police searched for the suspect.
Student Ella Michel, who spoke to FOX News from her dormitory, said she was informed that the school was on lockdown via a text message from the school's administrators.
USF, the ninth largest university in the United States, has more than 46,000 students.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,560462,00.html
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