Gun scare leads to lockdown at Clayton State U

Clayton State University was on lockdown for about 40 minutes Wednesday afternoon after two students spotted a man they believed was carrying a gun.

Around 4:50 p.m., the students told campus safety officers they saw a man carrying what they believed was a silver handgun outside the Morrow school’s James M. Baker University Center, university spokesman John Shiffert said.

Campus officers immediately sounded sirens and placed the campus on lockdown. Students and staff were ordered to stay in their classrooms, dorm rooms and offices with the doors locked, Shiffert said. Anyone walking on campus was rushed to the nearest building.

The lockdown was lifted at 5:30 p.m.

Campus officers said they saw the man on the university’s security cameras. Officers did not see a gun on the security video, but felt the lockdown was needed, Shiffert said.

The man was last seen walking west off campus. Campus officers and Morrow Police searched the campus and surrounding area, but were unable to locate the man, said Bobby Hamil, the university’s director of public safety.

Campus officers were interviewing the two witnesses Wednesday evening to obtain a more detailed description of the man, Hamil said. Hamil said he has no reason to believe the man was a student or staff member. About 6,000 students attend Clayton State.