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A scary situation for staff and students at Butler Community College, early this afternoon,
The school sent a mass text message, warning about a possible armed intruder on campus. It told everyone to lock up and stay out of sight.
After a campus-wide search, all is clear in El Dorado. But students are feeling unsettled.
A family waits after receiving word that a relative was possibly in danger.
"Got on my hands and knees with my son and prayed that everything would be okay. Honestly. Then we decided to come out here and see if we can find out anything," says Laura Holz. Her daughter is a sophmore at Butler.
15-year-old Garrett holz says he has Connecticut on his mind.
"I didn't want the same thing to happen to her as all those kids," he says.
Police say the man with the gun was driving around the football complex parking lot as he flashed a gun at one of the school's custodians.
Staff and students received this text message warning: "Attention: lock your areas. Take shelter out of site. Armed intruder reported on El Dorado campus."
Some thought campus police were just practicing.
"But I had a feeling it was a drill, you know a safety drill, that's what stuck out to me the most but it turned out, it wasn't a drill," says David Durango who was visiting the campus.
Others, didn't take it to heart.
"I heard the announcement and I was playing piano in the 700 building, that's our fine arts building, so I turned off the lights and went to sleep, on the ground," says freshman, Joseph Webster.
But police say the threat was very real. Every open building on campus was searched but no man with a gun was found.
"We're extremely fortunate because as you know, all campuses are wide open but the department, public safety department and Butler employees and staff trained for this and we are prepared for this," says director of Public Safety at Butler, Marshall Matthews.
The lockdown was lifted after an hour. police are following tips that could lead them to the man with the gun.
The suspect is described as a white male with a ball cap and glasses, he was driving a cream-colored 80's model Ford pickup with a red stripe.
The man left campus northbound on Haverhill Road. Authorities are still looking for him, but campus police say they are familiar with the person.