Expect More of this in the Future with Tragic Results

Student unaware he’d caused Sheridan panic

 Tripod was mistaken for weapon, triggering lockdown, heavily armed police response

 Feb 13, 2008 12:58 PM

Tamsyn Burgmann

Staff Reporter

An innocuous Sheridan College student who hunkered down with peers during a lockdown and full-scale search for a potential gunman had no idea he had triggered the campus-wide panic.

Last week’s Oakville campus lockdown, which saw heavily armed tactical officers and police dogs scouring the school for a man seen carrying what they believed was a long-barrelled gun, only ended after police determined it was more likely a tripod.

After a description of the man scraped from surveillance video was publicized, a student told school officials he might be the person police were looking for.

“Realizing there was no intent on his part to excite or mislead people, he came forward,” said Sgt. Brian Carr.

Halton region police now confirm the “long tubular object” seen by a professor and eight other students was a black metal tripod stand used to hold a microphone. It was property of Sheridan College and had been signed out from the Media arts program.

At no time did the student act “in a foolish manner in order to lead others to believe he was carrying a firearm,” police said. He also didn’t speak inappropriately in any way to suggest he had a weapon.

Students were confined to their school and a nearby residence for three hours Feb. 8 while police conducted a thorough search. One person, who seemed to match the man’s description, was arrested and subsequently released during that time.