Connecticut college lockdown lifted, 3 people in custody

GlobalPost

A lockdown has been lifted at Central Connecticut State University after multiple people reported seeing a person carrying a sword or a handgun on campus.

According to the Associated Press, police are investigating whether a student in a Halloween costume sparked the three-hour lockdown at the college in New Britain, Conn.

WFSB-TV Channel 3 reported the suspect may have been wearing camouflage pants, carrying a gun and in possession of a Samurai-type sword.

Three people were taken into custody in a 400-student residential building after a massive police search turned up no weapons.

"We had no real threat to students or faculty," said Chris Cervoni, chief of the campus police.

State troopers, police and SWAT teams from several nearby cities responded to the campus.

CCSU police chief told NBC Connecticut that at least one of the people in custody is a CCSU student.

Chief Chris Cervoni said the other two are student-aged, but did not confirm that they were students.

One student, 20-year-old Jordan Governale, told the New Britain Herald that he walked by a man carrying a backpack and with a sword and sheath strapped to his back.

The man was dressed in camouflage pants, knee pads and a vest resembling body armor, Governale said. He was also wearing a mask.

"At first I thought it was a Halloween costume. But after I saw the cops I thought it was some sort of threat," he said. "It's pretty scary. It's pretty strange, unexpected."

More than 12,000 students attend school on the 182-acre campus south of Hartford.

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