12:20 PM: Though the Appeal has received first hand reports of police being summoned to the 1300 block of Sansome to search for an armed man, and seeing emailed forwarded from building management cautioning employees to remain indoors, SFPD spokesperson DeWayne Tully says this is not true.

After checking with operations and Central Station, he denies any police activity in the area. “We’ve been getting calls from people, but as far as we know, there’s nothing going on.”

We’re stumped. Mass hallucinations in Levi’s Plaza? Rumors gone wild?

12:06 PM: Employees at businesses have been notified that an armed man, described as 6′ tall, blonde hair, red jacket, was spotted by the security guards who patrol the Levi’s Plaza area.

A call to some other, neighboring businesses confirmed this information. One person we spoke to said that “SFPD is all over the neighborhood looking for the guy.”

People in the area are being advised to stay indoors. No injuries have been reported.

the author

Eve Batey is the editor and publisher of the San Francisco Appeal. She used to be the San Francisco Chronicle's Deputy Managing Editor for Online, and started at the Chronicle as their blogging and interactive editor. Before that, she was a co-founding writer and the lead editor of SFist. She's been in the city since 1997, presently living in the Outer Sunset with her husband, cat, and dog. You can reach Eve at eve@sfappeal.com.

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