Report Of Man With Gun On UTA Campus Proved False
Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter
ARLINGTON (CBS11) - Students ran in panic, hid, and locked themselves in classrooms at the University of Texas at Arlington Wednesday when a man dressed in camouflage and carrying a tripod was mistaken for a gunman.
The school sent out alerts. Police raided the building.
Turns out the suspected gunman was recording video for a project.
Protocol was executed and the authorities seemed satisfied.
But after August 1st, 2016, police may not be the only people inside the building able to carry a weapon, when Campus Carry becomes law.
"You have campuses with large numbers of untrained students carrying weapons, you would probably be more likely to have accidents occur," said Dr. Kent Kerley, Department Chair of Criminology and Criminal Justice at UTA.
Kerley has a permit to carry a gun, and realizes when Campus Carry takes effect, a lot of his students will, too. But he hopes those students won't treat a situation like this any differently, gun or not.
"Still, the first reaction should be to take cover, to go inside a locked room if possible," said Kerley. "Protocols will still be to take cover, immediately call authorities, and engage only if you absolutely have to."
Kerley said UTA officials are still organizing a proposal of recommendations for areas of campus they hope to keep gun-free despite the new law.
(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
