Class assignment to build toy gun sparks university lockdown

ST. LOUIS — An engineering student at Saint Louis University did too well on a class assignment to build a toy gun, creating a model so realistic that it prompted a campus-wide lockdown and hunt for a possible shooting suspect.

The private, Catholic university in Missouri warned all students to shelter in place for hours Wednesday afternoon and evacuated a residence hall after reports of a man with a gun on campus and shots fired.

Police and university officials eventually tracked the source of the scare to a toy gun. Students in the Aerospace and Mechanical “Engineering Manufacturing Procedures” class had been assigned to build a toy rubber band gun.

“At least one student created a very realistic toy gun and openly carried it into his residence hall,” the university said in a statement.