A trio of local middle school students ran through the corridors of Gilmer Hall yesterday morning, shouting and setting off emergency showers and eyewash units, according to eye-witnesses.
The youngsters eventually fled through an emergency exit in the second-floor library, setting off a fire alarm.
Police shortly apprehended the suspects, three boys, in the Corner area, and released them to the custody of their guardians, University Police Sgt. Melissa Fielding said.
Because the suspects are juveniles, Fielding would not release their names or say whether they have a criminal history. No charges have been filed.
The boys set off an emergency eyewash unit in Gilmer, releasing water onto the floor, she said.
However, Biology Prof. Deforest Mellon said he saw the suspects set off emergency showers, not eyewash units.
A housekeeping crew soon cleaned up the water, and there was no damage to the building, Fielding said.
Mellon was in his second-floor lab when he heard strange noises.
"I was sitting there about 10:30 a.m. and heard three kids running by," he said.
He looked out his door and discovered that the children had set off emergency showers by flipping a switch in the hallway.
By the time Mellon could shut off the showers, "there was already a lot of water," he said. "Those things are designed to put out fires."
The kids were shouting what sounded like curse words while running down the hall, said Elizabeth Underwood, graduate and undergraduate program coordinator for the biology department, who was in the biology office when she heard them.
The boys soon made their way to the Biology/Psychology Library.
"I was using the computers in the back of the library and I saw three little boys running around in there and looking guilty," third-year College student Jennifer Merrill said. "They were hiding behind bookcases and whispering to one another."
Many of the other students in the crowded library were "snickering," Merrill said.
When library workers threatened to call security, the kids ran through an emergency exit, setting off an alarm. Library employees chased the students out of the door, Merrill said.
"I don't believe there was any damage to the library," said Charlotte Scott, communications and publications director for the University library system.
However, library personnel told patrons the kids had set off emergency showers, causing six inches of water to accumulate on the first floor, Merrill said.
The presence of biology laboratories in Gilmer makes the prospect of mischief more serious, Underwood said.
"We're very cognizant of strange occurrences in the building because there are labs," she said.
There is occasional vandalism in Gilmer, Underwood said, but never anything like yesterday's incident.
Biology/Psychology Library officials declined to comment on the incident.
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