Two theatre students' rehearsal of a play took a dramatic turn when it was interrupted by Ball State University police.
Gene Burton, director of public safety, said police arrested sophomore Keith Deibel and freshman Alex Dunning on preliminary charges of disorderly conduct after the students were found with a toy gun at Bracken Library on Sunday.
Police arrested the students on preliminary charges of disorderly conduct because state law defines the charge as when a suspect "pursues to knowingly or recklessly engage in fighting or tumultuous conduct," Burton said.
Delaware County Jail released both students on $1,000 bail, according to jail officials.
If Deibel and Dunning are convicted of their Class B misdemeanors, they could receive up to 180 days in prison and a maximum fine of $1,000, according to the Indiana Code.
Arthur Hafner, dean of university libraries, said a library patron alerted the supervisor at the circulation desk that someone had a gun on the third floor of Bracken Library. The staff member then called the Ball State Police Department, Hafner said.
"It turns out about six officers responded, and they went up to the third floor to investigate," he said. "One of the sergeants said the officers could hear one of the two students yelling something that alarmed them such as 'Get the expletive-deleted down on the floor.'"
The police found the students and approached them, he said.
"They saw one of the students pointing what appeared to be a gun at a student who was down on the ground," he said. "The sergeant yelled 'Drop the weapon,' which the student immediately did. It turns out the gun was a toy gun, but it looked real. The students said they were in a theatre department and they were rehearsing a play."
Dunning said he and Deibel would not comment on the incident until they discussed the incident with a faculty member.
Burton said the toy gun had an orange ring at the end of the barrel, but it was too small and the color was too light for police to realize it was not real.
"The officers' opinion was they felt the conduct of the two subjects and what they were doing was tumultuous conduct," he said.
Hafner said he thought the library staff and police reacted appropriately to the situation.
"This is a scary situation," he said. "It looks like a real situation and we don't know. The library response is to call for help. Our staff are very good at identifying risk; our campus security are very good about managing risk and they did the right thing."
They students could have avoided being arrested if they had told library staff what they would be doing beforehand, Hafner said.
"The students could have told someone they were rehearsing and they could have gone in a study room and they could have done any number of things," he said. "but they didn't do anything. We want people to come to Bracken because it's a safe environment."
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