Scare at RIT
By: Joe Parker
Updated: March 16, 2012
A Rochester Institute of Technology student who had a novelty umbrella prompted a campus-wide lock-down after someone thought it was a gun.
The alert was lifted within an hour.
RIT says it acted "responsibly" when it sent out a campus wide alert over email and through text messages. It happened after a bus driver reported seeing what they thought was someone with a weapon. That alert told students and staff to remain inside their dorms and buildings.
Once Monroe County Sheriff's deputies tracked down the student using surveillance video, they found out it was an umbrella with a samurai-style handle.
RIT says any report should be taken seriously and it will always be prompt when alerting students and staff to a potential danger.
The umbrella was confiscated by sheriff's deputies and will be returned to the student at the end of the semester.
