Balloon Popping Prompted USF Police Call Out

A professor using balloons in a classroom exercise inadvertently created a bit of a panic on the University of South Florida campus Friday afternoon.

According to the USF Police Department, the agency received two separate 911 calls about possible shots fired in Cooper Hall. The shots, the callers said, were coming from inside a room inside the building that houses classes in a variety of subjects.

“Officers immediately responded and quickly determined that an instructor was popping balloons as part of a class exercise,” the agency wrote in an email to media. “There was no safety threat to the community.”

While this incident turned out to be a false alarm, the police department reminds people that they should always report suspicious activity.

Photo courtesy of the USF Facebook page