University of Northern Iowa police responded to a report of a man with a gun last night on campus, but authorities believe it was a false alarm. Melissa Wright is a spokeswoman for U-N-I’s Department of Public Safety.
"The call came into UNI police department saying that there was an individual who had entered the Maucker Union are wearing camouflage, had camouflage paint on his face and was carrying on his leg what appeared a gun," she says. "There was a costume party taking place in Mauker Union at the time."
Officers responded. They did not find the man, but in talking with folks at the party, the cops determined it was a man in costume, with a fake gun. Wright says there’s an uptick in calls to police during the Halloween period.
"You do tend to get additional reports of people, suspicious individuals, because of whatever costume parties are taking place or whatever people should decide to dress up as for Halloween," Wright says. "…It does create additional calls for service for checking out some of the people who are dressing up and I can’t say that that’s exactly what this was, but that’s what we believe it was."
The campus Sociology Club and "UNI Proud" — an advocacy group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students — hosted the Halloween costume party last night (Wednesday) from 7 to 11 at the Maucker Union Ballroom.