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Cops: Teen pulled gun on college student, prompting lockdown

Updated Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015 | 2:47 p.m.

PHILADELPHIA — A teenager pulled a gun on a student outside a community college building, prompting a campus lockdown and police search and leading to the teen's arrest, police said.

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told reporters Tuesday that there were no reports of gunfire or injuries following the 9:30 a.m. Tuesday encounter at the Community College of Philadelphia.

Ramsey said it was unrelated to an Internet threat that had prompted increased security at Philadelphia-area colleges the day before.

"These are two individuals who have a history," he said. "They were arguing over something. At some point in time this individual pulls a gun on the other — not uncommon in Philadelphia, unfortunately."

After the student reported that the teenager pulled a gun on him, the Community College of Philadelphia campus was locked down and administrators asked students and staff to shelter in place while police searched buildings.

Shortly before noon, a 17-year-old was apprehended without incident in a classroom, Ramsey said. Officers were still searching the campus for the weapon, he said.

Ramsey said prosecutors would decide later what charges would be filed, but they could include firearms violations, assault and perhaps terroristic threats.

It was unclear whether the suspect was a student.

"I was kind of freaked out at first not really knowing what to do," Lisa LeCain, a student at the college, told the Associated Press by email. "But people around me were pretty calm, and I figured that as long as I would stay where I was until I'd know what to do, I'd be kind of safe."

LeCain said she didn't feel her life was in danger, but she "got scared ... when I learned they apprehended to suspect in the building where I was."

In May 2014, the school was evacuated after police said a student pulled a gun in a classroom in a confrontation with another student.

On Monday, Philadelphia-area colleges and universities increased security amid an FBI warning about an online posting that threatened violence for that day.

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