Pace University Evacuated After Reports Of Man With Gun, Witnesses, Police Say

FINANCIAL DISTRICT, NY — A Pace University building in lower Manhattan was evacuated Thursday afternoon after police responded to false reports of a man with a gun inside the building, an NYPD spokesman said.

Witnesses called 911 after they saw a man in a bathroom with a belt that appeared to be made of bullets, police officials said at a press briefing. Several men inside a bathroom on the building's sixth floor saw the belt protruding from beneath a bathroom stall at about 2:19 p.m. on Thursday, authorities said. The men mistakenly thought it was a belt that fed ammunition into a machine gun, prompting them to call 911, police said.

While the building was being evacuated, police saw a man with an apparently bullet-lined belt and stopped to question him, authorities said. The man confirmed that he had been in the bathroom and no gun was located.

"His belt was just a belt that he wore as part of his wardrobe, a fashion statement, probably not a very good fashion statement," said John Miller, a deputy commissioner at the NYPD.

The man wearing the belt, who police did not identify, was not arrested in connection with the shooting scare. Police did confiscate the belt to inspect it and determine whether the bullets were real or constructed for the belt.

"We're considering charging one individual with a fashion crime but we're still conferring with the fashion prosecutor," Miller joked.

Pace University also released a statement describing the evacuation as a "false alarm" and said nobody was injured.

"There was police activity at One Pace Plaza. It was a false alarm. There were no injuries and everyone is safe," the university said in a statement.

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A student who was evacuated from the building told Patch that people were moved from the building to Beekman Street.

"No word from university yet. Heavily armed NYPD just came in and said 'everyone out.' Then they moved us back to Beekman St.," witness Timothy Nolan told Patch on social media before the threat was cleared.

The building that was evacuated is located on 41 Park Row, which is across the street from City Hall.

A student inside the building said that his class was put on lockdown, but there were no official announcements made by the university.

This story has been updated with additional information.

Photo by Patch editor Ciara McCarthy