Witnesses say umbrella looked like samurai sword

GREENVILLE, N.C. - ECU was under abcampus-wide lockdown for several hours Wednesday.

It was around 10:30, when police started search for what they believed was a gunman on campus.

The scene, initially calm, quickly changed.

Sirens and flashing lights tore through downtown Greenville as police responded to calls of a gunman heading towards campus.

Police said it was a report about a man initially believed to be carrying a weapon that sparked it all, “Our telecommunicators received a call that a male was walking casually down east 5th Street heading east with what appeared to be a longer weapon in his hand.”

Police said they received two calls to 911 and next they pulled traffic cam video. 

The man was walking towards the ECU campus, so police notified campus security, who then ordered the lockdown.

Within minutes, the rumor mill began to churn with posts on websites like Facebook and Twitter

Students said they were unable to decipher fact from fiction.

And police said the rumor mill had them chasing false leads, “That is our worst obstacle right now, people spreading rumors and fictitious information."

One of those rumors prompted the closing of Reed Circle, after police received a report the  gunman took a city bus hostage. That turned out to be false.

For more than three hours law enforcement including Highway Patrol and Greenville Police scoured the area, still searching for the alleged gunman.

It wasn't until a news conference Wednesday afternoon, more than four hours after the initial 911 call that everyone's worst fears were finally laid to rest, as police announced the lockdown was lifted and there was no gunman, just a man, on a walk with an umbrella.

“I had just gotten back from class walked into the dorm, sat down Jason and I were about to watch TV and the alarm went off,” said Gibson Gillespie, ECU student.

A loud speaker announced, “This is an ECU Police alert. A dangerous incident has been reported on campus. The campus is on lockdown until further notice. Get to a safe area and take safety precautions.”

“At first I thought it was a drill but then it kept happening in the hallway and everyone was freaking out and when we tried to go upstairs but the RA's made us go to our own rooms so I knew it was kind of serious,” said Jessica Firnhaver, ECU student,

Most of the students on campus did listen to the warnings, but as you can see some did not.

ECU freshman Kaittlin Stiffler left her class to try to get with some friends and said, “There's rumors of him being [here] at Mendenhall and Dowdy places and having hostages so I was just freaking out. I was rushing at a really fast pace looking behind me everywhere I was just scared.”

Rumors.

But those rumors really persisted in regards to the Rivers Building.

“Just saw a bunch of people filing out of Rivers packing them into buses, not sure where they are taking them to. Haven't seen anybody else removed from any other building,” said Ben Flury, ECU student.

Police ended up telling us we had to leave this area too.

ECU officials said after a clean sweep of the building they decided to move the students to another secure building to calm fears do to all the rumors of a gunman being in the Rivers Building with hostages.    

Fortunately in the end there was no gunman.

“I think you have to look at all of these experiences as learning experiences and that's what we aim to do.  We will take the response today, what worked well look at what we wished worked better and apply those things the next time around. We hope there's not a next time around,” said Mary Schulken, Dir. ECU Public Affairs.

And ECU wasn't the only school to undergo some sort of lockdown procedure.

Four other nearby schools housing middle and elementary age students closed their doors during the ordeal.

C.M. Eppes Middle, Sadie Salter Educational Center, Walh Coats Elementary and Elmhurst Elementary underwent a "modified" lockdown where doors where locked and people couldn't come and go, but instruction continued.

That's the modified part.

"I think especially for the kindergarteners if they're new to the school and they haven't done a lockdown drill yet, I mean certainly that's something new for them to go through and the parents but the older kids especially this is something they practice many times," said Pitt County Schools PIO Heather Mayo.

A full lockdown only occurs if there's a direct threat on campus.

Doors are locked, teaching stops, faculty and students are moved away from windows and doors.

Schools returned to normal at one o'clock today and parents of children at those schools should be notified about today's events.

Witnesses say the umbrella was actually a "Samurai Umbrella."

--- Original Story ---

GREENVILLE, N.C. - A man carrying an umbrella prompted a lockdown of East Carolina University on Wednesday.

That's according to Greenville Police.

They made the announcement during an afternoon news conference.

That followed ECU sounding the ALL CLEAR after a nearly 3 hour lockdown.

Officials said classes will resume at 3 p.m. today. Student transit operations will resume at 2 p.m.

Police say they received a call at 10:15 a.m. that a suspect was walking casually down the 5th Street  near Reade Circle with an assault rifle.

That prompted a lockdown of the university's campus. Residence halls were all locked down and secured as students and staff were advised to stay inside their residence halls and/or classroom buildings.

However, there were no reports of injuries, threats, or shots fired on the campus during the incident.

Chancellor Steve Ballard released the following statement about today's lockdown, "As you know, there were reports this morning of a man carrying a rifle near the ECU campus. We are relieved that the reports of this incident turned out to be unfounded.  East Carolina University will always err on the side of campus safety when these situations arise.  Our response by faculty, staff, and students was timely and professional. We appreciate the concern of the parents of our students, as well as the cooperative efforts of the Greenville Police Department and the Pitt County Sherriff’s Office as the university responded to this incident. Please know that East Carolina University will continue to make the safety of our campus a top priority."

Greenville Police conducted a sweep of the entire campus North To South, from the downtown end of Campus toward 10th Street in a search for the alleged gunman.

Buildings on ECU's East/Main campus were systematically checked and cleared by police. Students were released to buses or relocated, location-by-location, as the situation developed.

ECU Police conducted a search of the Rivers Building on campus after a report of a man matching the description of the suspect was reported. Police swept the building, but no suspect was found.

Students were evacuated from the building and taken by ECU buses to a different part of campus. They were kept there until the lockdown notice was lifted.

ECU Police worked with Greenville Police and the Pitt County Sheriff’s Department to search through the neighborhood next to campus.  

Four Pitt County Schools near the area were placed on a modified lockdown according to Heather Mayo. That means building doors were locked and no one was allowed outside of the school buildings.  Those schools were Wahl-Coates Elementary, C.M. Eppes Middle School, Elmhurst Elementary School, and Sadie Salter Educational Center.

9 On Your Side has multiple crews on the scene and will have more details throughout the day as they become available.