A driver wearing a facemask and waving what looked like a weapon sent University of Maryland, College Park police scrambling Tuesday morning, after reports came in of a white Dodge van moving aggressively through campus. The person was taken into custody, and officers who caught up with the van determined the alarming object was a white gaming rifle used for video games rather than an actual firearm.
Call Came In Tuesday Morning
According to WBAL NewsRadio, the University of Maryland Police Department received a call Tuesday morning describing a person driving a white Dodge van in an aggressive manner on campus. Officers also fielded reports of a driver wearing a facemask and waving what appeared to be a weapon, prompting a rapid response across the College Park campus.
Officers located the van and the person believed to be behind the wheel, the station reports. Once police got a look at the item the driver had been waving, it turned out to be a white gaming rifle — the kind used as a controller for video games — rather than a real gun, per the same account.
Charges Expected, Investigation Still Open
The person taken into custody will face criminal charges, UMD police said, though the department has not detailed what those charges will be. The university's police department also said it is actively investigating the incident and sent a safety notice about the episode to the campus community, the report notes.
The university maintains a written policy that squarely covers situations like this one. Per the University of Maryland's weapons policy, the school prohibits carrying, possessing, using or transporting any weapon on university property, including inside personal vehicles traveling through campus. Notably, the policy's definition of a prohibited weapon extends beyond real firearms to cover replica firearms, BB guns, pellet guns, air rifles, paint guns, ghost guns and 3-D guns. The rule applies to students, faculty, staff, contractors and visitors alike, and violations can trigger both university discipline and arrest or criminal prosecution under Maryland law.
Part of a Wider Pattern of Toy-Gun Scares
Tuesday's incident fits into a broader run of campus and public scares tied to realistic-looking toy weapons this year. At the University of Florida, campus police said in a UF Alert that two individuals seen walking near campus with rifles on September 9 were acting legally, according to Gainesville.com. In April, University of Nebraska-Lincoln police issued a shelter-in-place style alert after a suspicious person was reported near the East Campus Union in what turned out to be an airsoft-gun incident, as reported by 1011 Now.
Other cases have played out off campus entirely. In San Mateo, California, two 15-year-olds were detained after a Waymo driverless vehicle reported them drinking and shooting gel ball blasters from inside the car, according to ABC7 Los Angeles. And last September, a campus scare at UMass Lowell ended with investigators identifying a juvenile male and recovering what turned out to be an Airsoft replica rifle, per WCVB.
For now, UMD police have not released the identity of the person taken into custody or specified what charges will be filed, and the department says its investigation into Tuesday's incident remains active.
