Washington's American University lifts lockdown; no arrest

[December 12, 2013]  (Reuters) — American University on Wednesday lifted a lockdown triggered by the report of a man with a gun on campus after an investigation found that the suspect was an off-duty police officer with a gun, according to D.C. Police.

The campus in northwest Washington, D.C., was on lockdown for about two hours while D.C. Metropolitan Police and the university's public safety department investigated the report, according to the university's website and D.C. police.

A university spokeswoman initially reported that a suspect was in custody. But D.C. Police spokesman Hugh Carew said the reported gunman was actually an off-duty D.C. officer. Someone had spotted his gun and made the call about a gunman on campus.

"The system worked," said Carew of the outcome of the incident.

(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; editing by Paul Simao and Jackie Frank)

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