Man surrenders after waving gun on campus

Police said several witnesses at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga saw Lonzo Aben Richmond Jr., 23, get into an argument with another person inside the campus food court Wednesday afternoon.

‘It was reported Mr. Richmond was seen waving a gun and pointing it at several people inside the Student Center,’ the Chattanooga Police Department said in a news release.

Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Noorbergen said it was unclear why the two men were on campus, but neither of them are students at UTC. The two men are concert promoters who got into an argument about money and Richmond pulled out the gun and threatened the other man before leaving, Noorbergen said.

Police are still trying to track down the other man, whose name hasn’t been released. University spokesman Chuck Cantrell said the second man is a former UTC student.

Police reached Richmond on his cellphone Wednesday. He told officers that he was out of town and would return to turn himself in, arriving at the Hamilton County Jail at 2:45 a.m. Thursday.

He has been charged with felony reckless endangerment, unlawful possession of a firearm, and possession of a weapon on school property.

Cantrell said that authorities did not believe the suspect was still on campus when they arrived, but they searched a nearby apartment complex because some witnesses thought he went there.

‘They walked through some of the dorms, but they didn’t do a door-to-door search,’ Cantrell said.

The university alerted students, faculty and staff through e-mail about an hour after the incident, he said.

The number of students in the area at the time of the incident was unknown, Noorbergen said. Classes started Monday at the university with about 9,100 students.

‘We realized it was an argument between individuals, not a random act,’ said Cantrell, adding that none of the students were verbally threatened during the incident. ‘What we tell all the students is that they need to act with caution at all times.’