HADLEY — When police responded to a call that a man appeared to have a shotgun or rifle slung over his shoulder at Campus Plaza on Wednesday afternoon, they quickly discovered that the alleged weapon was actually an umbrella.
According to a post on the department’s Facebook page, a “large scale police presence” gathered at 440 Russell St. in response to the call.
“When you get a call of someone with a gun on them, everyone goes,” Sergeant Kenneth Hartwright said. A Stop & Shop employee called police about the man, Hartwright said.
The item that led to the call was a “long umbrella in a black cover,” the post said.
Hartwright said that the department has responded to false alarms of this nature in the past.
“They’re not common, but if someone believes they see a firearm they should report it to the police to make sure everything’s okay with that, to make sure they’re licensed or in case they’re at a location with bad ideas in mind,” Hartwright said.
Hartwright said that he doesn’t believe that the man with the umbrella realized that anyone thought it was a gun when police arrived.
Jacquelyn Voghel can be reached at jvoghel@gazettenet.com