--- title: College on Lockdown After Lightsaber Mistaken for Rifle description: The warning was lifted after police saw the toy canonical: https://time.com/4261594/college-lockdown-lightsaber-gun/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-16T18:19:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:57:46.321Z article:section: U.S. og:title: NY College on Lockdown After Lightsaber Mistaken for Rifle og:description: The warning was lifted after police saw the toy og:url: https://time.com/4261594/college-lockdown-lightsaber-gun/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: NY College on Lockdown After Lightsaber Mistaken for Rifle twitter:description: The warning was lifted after police saw the toy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # New York College Goes on Lockdown After Toy Lightsaber Is Mistaken for a Rifle  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Mar 16, 2016 6:19 PM CUT  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Mar 16, 2016 6:19 PM CUT A college in East Farmingdale, N.Y., went on lockdown Wednesday morning following reports of gun on campus that turned out to be [just a toy lightsaber](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/college-goes-on-lockdown-after-light-saber-mistaken-for-gun/2016/03/16/ae2cae6e-eb94-11e5-a9ce-681055c7a05f%5Fstory.html "undefined"). Police investigated [a 911 call](http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/man-toy-thought-gun-scare-college-article-1.2566712 "undefined") about someone with a rifle in the parking lot of Farmingdale State College on Long Island while school officials instructed students and staff to find shelter, the Associated Press reports. Kathryn Coley, a spokesperson for FSC, confirmed to the AP that the weapon was actually a _Star Wars_ toy. Police made the discovery after approaching the subject. They did not arrest him, and the lockdown warning was quickly lifted afterward, the New York _Daily News_ r[eports](http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/man-toy-thought-gun-scare-college-article-1.2566712 "undefined"). \[[_AP_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/college-goes-on-lockdown-after-light-saber-mistaken-for-gun/2016/03/16/ae2cae6e-eb94-11e5-a9ce-681055c7a05f%5Fstory.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4261594/college-lockdown-lightsaber-gun/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4261594/college-lockdown-lightsaber-gun/"},"headline":"New York College Goes on Lockdown After Toy Lightsaber Is Mistaken for a Rifle","datePublished":"2016-03-16T18:19:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:57:46.321Z","description":"The warning was lifted after police saw the toy","url":"https://time.com/4261594/college-lockdown-lightsaber-gun/","keywords":["Crime","New York"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4261594/college-lockdown-lightsaber-gun/","name":"New York College Goes on Lockdown After Toy Lightsaber Is Mistaken for a Rifle"}}]}] ```