Students react to gun scare at UCF, want to know what led to threat

ORLANDO, Fla. — For students inside the John C. Hitt Library at the University of Central Florida, it was a frightening moment as police yelled at them to get out after reports of an armed woman in the building.

Students said they were alerted several ways to evacuate the library.

Many said they were concerned, but tried not to panic.

A campus-wide alert was sent to students, telling them police received reports of a woman with a gun inside.

“This has honestly been one of my biggest fears. So the minutes I got the alert, it was like a rush of adrenaline, just rushed down my back,” said student Manny Orozco

But many students didn’t go far, and were crowded just outside the library doors as police swarmed the building.

“We didn’t feel it was really dangerous because they were letting us stand at the entrance with all the cops,” said student Faith Culhane.

Campus police said it was a social media post that triggered an evacuation.

Police did not go into specifics about the post, but students told Channel 9 how they heard the incident started.

“Someone with A gun was praying and they called the police out of fear,” said student Vishil Shah.

UCF police originally tweeted, “possible Middle Eastern gunman/woman in UCF main campus library. Avoid the area.”

That Tweet was quickly taken down, and a follow-up tweet said, “UCFPD responding to Library reference person with a gun. Please avoid area.”%

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The Council on American-Islamic relations weighed in on the Tweet, and is calling on UCF police to review their policies.

“To alert 60,000 members of the UCF community is problematic. You’re instilling fear and paranoia into everybody on campus,” said Rasha Mubarak of CAIR Florida.

She said the organization is confused over the Tweet and it pointed to the person was Middle Eastern.

Students said they want police to get to the bottom of what really happened.

Students said they appreciated the campus-wide alert and the multiple announcements in the library giving everyone heads-up on why they needed to evacuate.

Cox Media Group