PITTSBURGH — A Duquesne University student is facing a disciplinary hearing after bringing a gun into the campus library Sunday, prompting the school to issue an alert.
School officials said the incident started when a student saw a man enter the library with a gun tucked into the waistband of his pants. The student immediately called campus security.
According to the alert, the student with the gun had a permit to carry, but because he violated campus policy, he was "escorted to his car and he immediately left campus."
“It just seemed really strange,” said Duquesne University junior Beth Sheridan.
Sheridan and other students told Channel 11 that they heard about the guy with the gun in the campus library shortly after it happened Sunday afternoon.
“(The alert) said it was tucked into his waistband, so I don't know why you would have a gun in Gumberg like ever,” said Sheridan.
School officials told Channel 11 that "at no time was the gun used to threaten anyone."
"You should be able to carry a firearm wherever you want, as long as you're not threatening anyone with it,” said Duquesne University junior James Drelick.
Still, some students, including Sheridan, wonder why anyone - let alone a student - would bring a weapon into the library in the first place.
“I definitely would have told someone who works there and I would definitely have left, but I don't know why there would be any reason to be in there with a gun,” said Sheridan.
Pennsylvania has no law prohibiting someone from having a weapon on college campuses, but some universities, including Pennsylvania State University and the University of Pittsburgh, ban all weapons from campus.