Mass Shooting Drill At Ball State University?

Nobody seems to know much other than someone heard someone yell "Gun! Gun! Gun" in the Health and Physical Activity Building on Ball State University's campus late yesterday afternoon followed by the sound of a door slamming. That set off a panic that led to a 3 1/2 hour lockdown during which scores of police scoured the area in search of a gunman no identifiable person actually saw. No gunman was ever found, although a bit of excitement occurred when one of the police officers conducting the search accidentally discharged his gun.

Some students continued working out in the gym after the lockdown had started, thinking the whole thing was a joke according to the Muncie Star-Press. "I told my friends and we were laughing about it and kept working out, and then more and more people kept coming upstairs, and then finally one of the of the officers was like, "Yeah, you just all need to stop working out. The building's on lockdown," Dillon Evanczyk told the Star-Press. "The officer had a gun as big as me," said Ball State junior Ashley Lattanzio.

After the ordeal, Ball State police were pondering whether the person heard yelling about a gun was merely pulling a prank. They promised a range of actions from disciplinary to criminal charges if the person responsible was identified. It is akin to yelling fire in a crowded theater these days. It occurred to me that something similar happened on IUPUI's campus in Indianapolis earlier this semester that ended similarly without any gunman being identified.