School police defend description of 'Middle Eastern' suspect


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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The University of Central Florida's police chief is defending the response to reports of a "Middle Eastern" suspect in the school's library.

Chief Richard Beary tells the Orlando Sentinel (http://bit.ly/238XDZz ) he's sorry the description in the alert sent to students offended people. But he says his dispatchers were putting out the best information they had on Tuesday afternoon.

Campus police saw a social media post describing a woman and received 911 calls about her soon after. A caller said her friend saw a girl acting "panicky" holding a "silver and black" object in the library's main stairwell.

The library was evacuated and the alert about a "Middle Eastern gun man/woman" was sent.

The woman wasn't found.

Beary says he's been criticized in the past for not providing suspects' descriptions.

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Information from: Orlando Sentinel, http://www.orlandosentinel.com/

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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