Stella Li, 21, of Northampton,  battles a gym while playing Pokemon Go in Northampton Monday afternoon. GAZETTE STAFF/CAROL LOLLIS
Stella Li, 21, of Northampton, battles a gym while playing Pokemon Go in Northampton Monday afternoon. GAZETTE STAFF/CAROL LOLLIS

AMHERST – Use of an Amherst church property as a so-called Gym for the smartphone game Pokemon Go prompted a response from Amherst Police early Thursday morning.

Officers in the area of the Immanuel Lutheran Church, 867 North Pleasant St., spotted two vehicles in the parking lot and two men loitering nearby at 2:19 a.m., according to logs supplied by the department.

When asked why they were at the site,  the men “explained that they were playing Pokemon Go and that the location of the church was a  Pokemon Gym.” A Gym, in the augmented reality smartphone game, is the place players go to battle the Pokemon creatures they have caught in the wild.

Police determined there was no crime and the men agreed to leave the location.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.

Scott Merzbach is a reporter covering local government and school news in Amherst and Hadley, as well as Hatfield, Leverett, Pelham and Shutesbury. He can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com or 413-585-5253.