FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A massive police presence and the lockdown of three college campuses in Davie, Fla., led to the eventual discovery of a man with a colorful toy gun that apparently launched the incident.
About 1 a.m. Friday, Davie police tweeted out a picture of the gun that was found after the lockdown had been lifted. An officer found the man walking with the yellow, red and green toy gun, police said.
"They both matched the description given by the witness," police tweeted.
The incident was first reported at 9:26 p.m. Thursday by a student who said she saw a guy with a gun standing on a swale as she drove away from campus, said Lt. Marke Leone, of the Davie Police Department.
"She said that as she was pulling out of the parking lot she saw a man standing on the outside of the parking lot over in the grassy swale area holding what she believed was a rifle," Leone said.
"She said that the man raised the rifle in the air and starting walking towards her car," prompting her to speed off, Leone said.
In a tweet posted a little before 10 p.m. Florida Atlantic University said a man with a rifle had been sighted near the baseball field.
Davie police conducted an extensive search of the FAU campus while helicopters flew overhead. Police presence was heavy throughout the area just south of Interstate 595 and Davie Road.
The college cluster includes FAU, Broward College and Nova Southeastern University. They were all put on lockdown during the incident.
"We're searching the campus now, but we haven't come up with anything," Leone said a little after 11 p.m.
At 11:18 p.m., a recorded robocall from FAU indicated "all clear."
"They toy gun was collected and the investigation was turned over to detectives," police tweeted after the man and the yellow, red and green gun were found.