At approximately 6:10 p.m., Ball State University police officers pulled over two Muncie residents in a blue Dodge Neon for running a red stoplight at the intersection of University and McKinley avenues, University Police officer Matt Gaither said.
However, by 6:30 p.m., about 60 Ball State students had gathered on either sides of McKinley Avenue to watch as seven officers and four police cars flanked the vehicle, which was parked in the shuttle stop outside University Theatre.
Although the two residents weren't arrested, two Muncie Police Department special units were called to the scene. Gaither said when police pulled the driver, an adult, and front-seat passenger, a juvenile, over they found "a large knife in the front center console and shotgun shells" in the car. The Muncie residents, who weren't Ball State students, couldn't give a clear reason why they were on campus, he said.
"It seemed both of them were reluctant to say," Gaither said.
University Police officers then called for a Muncie Police K-9 unit to search the vehicle, Gaither said. There were four police cars on-site because the K-9 officer arrived with a Muncie Police special unit called Weed and Seed, he said.
The driver and passenger put their hands on the car's dashboard while the K-9 dog, led by Muncie Police officer Millsaps, circled the vehicle with a tennis ball in its mouth, sniffing for evidence.
Gaither said the dog alerted the officers to the possible presence of drugs on the driver's side door. But when Gaither and fellow University Police officer Amanda Williamson donned gloves to search the inside of the car, checking the inside of wallets, the glove box and under seats, they didn't find any "collectible evidence," he said.
The driver told police that marijuana had been rolled and smoked inside the car in recent months, but could not account for the knife and gun shells, Gaither said. University Police gave the driver a ticket citing him for disregarding the traffic light, Gaither said.
"Since we didn't actually collect anything, we didn't give any criminal offense," he said.
The driver and passenger drove away at about 6:45 p.m. to faint clapping sounds from the dispersing crowd of students.
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