Authorities say an Iowa State University student found a pellet gun stuffed inside a pair of gloves in a Willow Hall dorm room on Sunday. Gene Deisinger, commander of the special operations unit at the ISU police, says it’s likely the same weapon they’ve been looking for since an incident in that dorm just over a week ago.
Deisinger says residents were returning from Spring Break and were going through their rooms and found a weapon that may be the one authorities have been looking for since the incident on March 16th. A Waterloo man, 20-year-old Jawon Jackson, was arrested on a host of charges after allegedly threatening an ISU student with a gun in Willow Hall.
Charges against Jackson were dropped on Friday after an extensive search turned up no weapon. Deisinger says the pellet gun that was found Sunday resembles a semi-automatic handgun — which is what some witnesses say Jackson appeared to be carrying.
Deisinger says the weapon was a pellet gun but it looked very close to the real thing. He says it will be sent to the state D.C.I.’s crime lab for further examination. Deisinger says the search for the weapon was extensive and included: hallways, dens, bathrooms, toilets, trash receptacles, ceilings, rooftops, elevator shafts and landscaped areas. He says the room where the weapon was found had also been searched by officers after consent had been received from one of the room’s residents.
Deisinger says Jackson has -not- been taken into custody — again. Deisinger says there were a variety of statements made and they hadn’t found a weapon, so Jackson was released and the initial charges were dismissed. However, Deisinger says, "Should evidence link him back to this gun, then he would face additional charges." Reports last week said Jackson, who is not an I.S.U. student, had run track in high school in Illinois with the alleged victim.