Kendall Campus was on lockdown for nearly two hours Wednesday morning after the Miami-Dade Police Department received a call from a motorist who reported seeing a cyclist with a backpack that appeared to have a rifle sticking out of it.
When police located the man near the campus at about 9:44 a.m.—30 minutes after the initial report—they discovered the man’s backpack had an umbrella protruding out of it, not a rifle.
The school remained on lockdown until about 11:10 a.m. while police combed the area to make sure it was safe.
But the scene was much more tense earlier.
When Danna Quintero, who is a photographer in the media services department at the campus arrived at the school at around 9:25 a.m., she was greeted by police officers with assault rifles near the 2000 building.
“I didn’t know what was happening,” Quintero said. “The building had a bunch of cops looking everywhere.”
College officials said they put the campus on lockdown in abundance of caution. At around 9:30 a.m. people on campus reported hearing the following message over a loudspeaker:
“Attention please. A dangerous situation has been confirmed on campus. The appropriate personnel are responding. Seek shelter immediately at a secure location and await further instructions.”
“It was scary,” said Diane Documet, a chemistry tutor for the Student and Teacher Integrated Center for Health Sciences at Kendall Campus. “[Police] were in full gear and everything.”
Despite the scare, College officials lauded the quick response by police to resolve the incident.
“We thank everyone who was on campus at the time for their patience and cooperation,” Miami Dade College President Madeline Pumariega said in an email sent to students and employees shortly after the incident. “We understand that it was a frightening situation, but one that we always have to take seriously out of an abundance of caution and for which we train year-round.”
