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The Daily Wildcat

The Daily Wildcat

 

Man with knife arrested at UA Main Library

At about 12:27 p.m. the University of Arizona Police Department received a call from individuals at the UA Main Library a man carrying a knife.

Officers responded quickly and took the subject into custody without any further incident, said Juan Alvarez, a public information officer for UAPD. There were no injuries.

“The community recognized a potential threat, or a potential danger, they called the police and we were able to respond quickly and take control of the situation, which in this case, absolutely prevented the situation from escalating to something else,” Alvarez said.

The investigation is ongoing, and it is unclear whether the man was affiliated with the university, Alvarez added.

Adriano Fabbri, a communications junior, said the man was about 15 feet away from him, pacing back and forth with what looked like a sharp object in his hand when a woman librarian approached him saying, “Sir you need to stop, you need to come with me.”

The man told the librarian he was looking for someone, Fabbri added.

“Everyone was just packing up their stuff really frantically and the librarian was yelling at everyone to get off the third floor,” Fabbri said. “Some people didn’t pack up. Some people just, like, left their stuff.”

While students made their way downstairs, UAPD officers were sprinting up the stairs asking students to move. The man was handcuffed against the windows facing the Integrated Learning Center near the main entrance to the third floor.

“The guy could’ve easily overpowered her,” Fabbri said. “She definitely handled it to the best of her ability.”

Updates will be made to this story as they become available.

Stephanie Casanova contributed reporting to this article.

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