NMC campus shutdown a 'false alarm'
Nov. 16—TRAVERSE CITY — A kid with a BB gun in his car caused a Northwestern Michigan College campus to shut down for about 25 minutes.
NMC alerted the college community about the incident through text, email and social media alerts at 10:25 a.m. Thursday.
"ALERT: there are reports of an emergency situation at NMC's Aero Park Campus. Please avoid this area. Law enforcement has been notified. This is an evolving situation. NMC will provide updates as soon as possible," the post read.
At 10:45 a.m., college officials sent out another communications blast saying that local law enforcement officials determined that there was no viable threat to students or faculty and normal activity could be resumed.
Later that afternoon, acting college president and Vice President of Finance & Administration, Troy Kierczynski, released more information about what caused the shutdown earlier that day.
"As acting president while Dr. Nissley is traveling, I would like to share more information about what happened so you can remain confident in the College's emergency response and your safety on our campuses," his letter said.
He said that there were reports of an unsecured pellet gun in the parking lot of Aero Park Labs, and that "out of an abundance of caution" the local authorities were called.
Traverse City Police Department's Investigative Services Captain Keith Gillis confirmed that they had been notified and that the incident involved a younger man with a BB gun in his car.
Since firearm deer hunting season just kicked off this week, Kierczynski said it was a good time to remind everyone about state laws for transporting firearms in a car.
He then quoted the legislation, which states: "You may transport your registered handguns while en route to and from your hunting or target shooting area; however, handguns, including BB guns larger than .177 caliber and all pellet guns, must be unloaded and in a closed case designed for the storage of firearms and cannot be readily accessible to any occupant of the vehicle."
Even though this incident was determined to not be a viable threat by law enforcement, Kierczynski said it can serve as an important reminder to community members to speak up if they think something has gone awry.
"While this incident was determined to not be a threat, please know NMC will continue to take all security incidents seriously for the safety of our entire NMC community and we will continue to look for ways to improve our response efforts," he wrote.
There has been no information released as of Thursday evening about who owned the pellet gun that caused the shutdown.
NMC's Aero Park Campus is now fully reopened.
