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The boys got to roll out a few toys....
USF student arrested, charged with making false bomb threat
By JOSH POLTILOVE and LINDSAY PETERSON
The Tampa Tribune
Published: October 5, 2009
TAMPA - A chilling alert went out Monday at University of South Florida: "Armed intruder on campus at the library. Officers are on scene searching the area. Avoid the area and report anything suspicious."
Students watched police storm the school library with guns drawn as the campus remained on lock-down.
Authorities arrested Vincent Thomas-Perry McCoy on a university shuttle bus after he stood up and proclaimed he was the man authorities were looking for. Witnesses said he claimed to have a bomb; he faces charges of making false claims and remained in jail late Monday.
At the end of the day, authorities didn't know if McCoy was connected to the initial report of a man with a gun near the library. If the suspect truly was on campus, he slipped away. If it was a hoax, police are looking into that too.
"We have to take it seriously every time," said USF police Lt. Meg Ross. "Until we know otherwise, we have to treat it as a real situation."
Here's how the day unfolded:
Shortly after 1:30 p.m., the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office got an off-campus call about a man in front of the campus library with a gun. They forwarded the call to USF.
In less than 10 minutes, campus police were on the scene.
But there was little description to go on.
At 2:30 p.m., three campus police cruisers parked at the library sped west, lights and sirens on. One cruiser tore across the library lawn.
Around that time, McCoy, 23, had boarded a USF Bullrunner shuttle bus.
According to Ross, he told passengers: "I have the bomb. I am the bomber. I've got the bomb here."
About 20 minutes later, police handcuffed McCoy and placed him in a cruiser.
After McCoy was detained, campus police sent a new alert to students saying another man carrying a black puppy and a large hunting knife was spotted near Cooper Hall. Authorities described the man as wearing a black tank top and a cowboy hat.
About 3:30 p.m., a man in a black tank top stood handcuffed beside a police cruiser near Cooper Hall.
Authorities released the man soon afterward. He was not charged.
McCoy told authorities he was joking and didn't have a bomb. He is charged with making a false report concerning planting a bomb on state-owned property.
Court records show McCoy this year has been arrested for possession of marijuana and pleaded not guilty to a third-degree felony charge of theft from an elderly person.
The Tampa Police Department bomb team sent a remote-controlled robot to retrieve the backpack from the bus. They used explosive tools to detonate it.
The bomb squad determined the backpack only included textbooks and notebook paper and school supplies. Police did not find a weapon, either.
By about 5:35 p.m., the bomb squad left the scene. Police had given the all-clear at the rest of the Tampa campus about an hour earlier.
The April 2007 campus shooting spree at Virginia Tech changed the way police respond to reports of gunmen on campus, Ross said.
Cho Seung-Hui killed 32 people, mostly students and professors.
"That changed the way we do business," Ross said. "This is how we do business now."
Students found the day sometimes terrifying and other times bizarre.
USF junior Dylan Hodill was studying on the library's fifth floor Monday afternoon when he heard sirens. He looked out and saw campus police cruisers pulling up.
"I just got up and left my books and booked," said Hodill, 21. "I saw four cops come in with their guns drawn."
Barbara Pierce boarded a bus about the time McCoy got on a separate shuttle.
She was about to doze off when the driver became adamant.
Drop, he insisted. Everybody on the floor.
The 18-year-old sophomore huddled on the floor with others on top of her for about 10 minutes.
"It's weird not knowing what's going on," Pierce said. "But I wasn't scared. I had my faith."
This is the third lockdown on the USF campus this year. In a statement posted on the college's Web site and sent via e-mail, USF President Judy Genshaft said the actions of police, students, staff and faculty "were prompt and effective."
http://northeast2.tbo.com/content/2009/oct/05/051933/reports-possible-armed-intruder-usf-campus/