X Games BMX Park pro Diogo Canina gets caught in a 3 hour locked down at East Carolina University
X Games BMX Park Silver medallist Diogo Canina got caught in the locked down at East Carolina University in Greenville, New York City, after news of a man walking down a nearby street with an assault rifle was heard at the campus.
The news of an armed individual walking down Fifth Street near the campus was heard at 10 a.m. and initiated safety measures and announcement immediately. The campus was locked down, while instructions were given to the students to find a safe place for
hiding until the threat was subsided.
Being a student at East Carolina University, Canina was on in the university premises as the entire incident took place. Finding himself locked in his class-room after the news of an armed individual spread across the campus, the professional BMX rider wasted
no time in updating his Facebook status, saying, "Dude, not even kidding. Armed guy at ECU. I am locked down. Apparently, he is holding hostages with a rifle."
Almost 30 minutes later, he shared additional information on his Twitter account, elaborating on the details of the weapon that the armed individual was carrying, along with the number of hostages that were being held by him. As per the tweet, the weapon
was an AK-47 rifle, and it was being used by the individual to hold 30 people as hostages.
East Carolina University security sealed off the campus and conducted an extensive search operation with the Greenville Police Department to search for the culprit. Once the alleged armed man was found, it was revealed that he did not have a weapon on hand.
Instead, it was just a black umbrella.
The sudden panic and strong reaction by the administration and students was regarded as justified by the East Carolina University spokesperson, Sarah Schach.
The chancellor of East Carolina University, Steve Ballard, posted a message on the university’s website which read: “East Carolina University will always err on the side of campus safety when these situations arise.”
After the entire chaos from the false alarm died down, another professional BMX rider Dan Foley, who also attends East Carolina University, tweeted that, "All that over some dude walking down the road with an umbrella.”
The panic gradually vanished from the campus after the armed individual was revealed to be just an ordinary person carrying an umbrella. With the ordeal ended, classes resumed at the campus at 3 p.m.
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