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Gunman who caused Florida campus alert still at large
2009-07-24
MIAMI (AFP) - Police were searching Friday for a gunman who caused a two-hour emergency alert at the University of South Florida. A Tampa police spokeswoman told local media the suspect was a black male driving a gold Saturn car. The suspect prompted the university alert when he placed a call to the local county crisis center at 12:15 pm (1615 GMT), university police said. "The caller was on campus in a parking lot adjacent to our bioscience parking lot... and (said) that he had a gun and that he was willing to use it," university assistant chief of police Major JD Withrow told AFP. "We got the call, we dispatched officers immediately. We activated our emergency notification system." Police alerted the university emergency system's 55,000 subscribers that a gunman was on campus, and placed a message on the university's website warning people to "stay inside and lock doors. Avoid area." University police, assisted by Tampa police and the highway patrol, cordoned off parts of the campus while they searched for the gunman, Withrow said. By 2:09 pm (1809 GMT), the area was declared clear and the alert lifted. "Please resume activities as normal. We will update information as it becomes available," the university website said. Withrow said police believe the suspect, who was not spotted by anyone on campus and did not fire any shots, had left the university area. "We found no one in the area with a weapon. A while later, while still on the scene, we received information that the suspect had indeed left the area," he said without providing further details. Police, Withrow added, did not believe the call was a prank or hoax, and responded accordingly. "We hear a man with a gun and we don't ask questions," he said. "We consider it a credible threat and we responded accordingly." The University of South Florida had some 9,200 students in 2008. Even though most US universities are now on summer vacation, they still host a wide variety of camps and programs. In April 2007, a South Korean student killed 32 people on his campus at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, before turning the gun on himself. Virginia Tech authorities were heavily criticized at the time for failing to lock down the campus quickly, giving the gunman, 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui, ample time to continue his bloody shooting spree.
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