COLUMBUS – An 18-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly bringing a gun onto the campus of Columbus State Community College, forcing a building to be temporarily evacuated and for classes to be canceled for much of Wednesday.
Deandre McClarin was arrested overnight and taken to the Franklin County jail, college spokesman David Wayne said.
Wayne says McClarin is not a student at the school.
McClarin is accused of being the man spotted with a gun on the second floor of the Center for Technology and Learning, on Cleveland Avenue, at approximately 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, Wayne said. A man who called Columbus police to report the incident says the suspect left the building through an exit at the corner of Cleveland and Mt. Vernon avenues where witnesses say he got into a vehicle and headed toward downtown, Wayne said.
Alerts were sent to students, staff and faculty minutes after the incident, police evacuated the building and searched every floor and room, Wayne said. Once it was clear there were no threats, students, faculty and staff were allowed to reenter around 10:30 a.m. and, although it appeared there was no longer a threat, Wayne says administrators then decided to close the campus at 11:30 a.m. for the rest of the day “out of an abundance of caution.”
Wayne says Columbus State and Columbus police, the FBI and the Shawnee Hills Police Department participated in the investigation.
McClarin is due in court Friday and faces five charges including inducing panic, having a weapon under disability, carrying a concealed weapon, aggravated menacing and assault, according to a report in The Columbus Dispatch.