BILLINGS – Out-of-uniform ROTC cadets carrying dummy rifles prompted a brief lockdown at Montana State University-Billings on Wednesday after campus police received a weapons report.
Authorities said they received word of two people walking across campus carrying guns at about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps cadets had been taking the rifles — which are nonfunctioning and used in training — to a vehicle parked on campus.
A message to students, faculty and staff to stay in classrooms and dorm rooms was transmitted by e-mail, text message and over loudspeakers.
An on-campus preschool, William R. Lowe, also was locked down until the alert was lifted at about 1 p.m., after police determined the cadets were the subject of the initial report.
“We take those reports seriously after what happened at Virginia Tech and other universities,” said MSU-B spokesman Dan Carter.
He added that it was the first time the campus had used the emergency notification system.