Toy guns cause problem at Vincennes University campus; police notified

JASPER, Ind. – A college class using toy guys as props for a skit chose models so authentic that passers-by called the police, who responded with their real guns drawn.\nNursing students alerted their teacher that they saw armed students in a classroom Monday at Vincennes University’s Jasper campus after they spotted several members of a sociology class preparing for a skit with a toy rifle and a broken BB gun. Someone from the college called police.\n“It was a case of students not really thinking about the consequences of their actions,” said Alan Johnson, dean of the campus in Jasper located about 60 miles northeast of Evansville.\nJohnson said he alerted Jasper police that the weapons were inoperable toys after receiving a note from the sociology professor. Officers had been there less than a minute.\nJohnson said university policy prohibits weapons, including replicas and toys, on campus.\n“The students didn’t think things through,” Johnson said. “It appears to be an innocent error.”