Bay Area Rapid Transit police have determined there was no merit to a report that a male suspect was seen at a Berkeley train station this afternoon, a BART spokesman said.
Berkeley Police Department officers responded to a report sometime after 4 p.m. that a male had been seen carrying a gun in the BART station at Ashby Avenue and Adeline Street.
A Berkeley resident, Beverly, saw about eight officers with large rifles walking through a flea market near Ashby Avenue and Adeline Street at about 4:30 p.m.
“Children are upset, people are scared,” Beverly said. “They wouldn’t even say what they were doing. Somebody could get killed out here.”
Shortly after Beverly’s spotting, at about 5 p.m., an officer at the Berkeley Police Department confirmed police were using large rifles to search for a male suspect with a gun at the Ashby BART station.
The officer said the department typically responds with rifles when they receive reports of suspects with guns.
Other than media inquiries, BART police received no other reports of the suspected male and deemed the case without merit at about 5:40 p.m., spokesman Jim Allison said.
Saul Sugarman, Bay City News
