A scare at the University of Texas after someone saw what looked like weapons being carried on campus turned out to be a false alarm.
At about 6 p.m. Monday police got a call from someone who said they saw a guy moving two tan shot guns from one car to another outside the Recreation Sports Building at 200 San Jacinto.
UTPD sent out a text alert to students and then scrambled to the scene to investigate.
UT Student Jill Apilado was in the School of Social Work when she got the text alert.
"Everybody around the classroom was just kind of looking at each other because we got the text at the same time," said Apilado.
Following university protocol, Apilado said professors took three classes to the building's basement where they waited for about 15 minutes.
"Just kind of waiting for what was going to happen next," said Apilado.
But shortly after the text alert went out, police said an ROTC student called to say he was the one with the weapons and they were parade replica weapons that were used during an ROTC event on Clark Field.
Police patted him down just in case, and then searched the trunk of his car.
"There should have been a better way of transporting that than like carrying it around," said UT student Julian Casabar.
UTPD's spokesperson said there is a process people must follow through the Dean of Students Office anytime replica weapons are brought on campus and said ROTC was granted permission to do so within the last three days.
But following last September's gunman on UT's campus who committed suicide and last October's false alarm of a Corps of Cadets replica weapon on Texas A&M's campus, students are sensitive.
However, they said the police department's text alerts during this incident were helpful.
"Obviously, they're improving ways they deal with it," said Casabar.
"It seemed pretty controlled everybody was calm," said Apilado.
UT police said they would much rather have a false alarm report filed than no report at all.
And while they're thankful there was nothing to this they said it was a good exercise for their officers.