World

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Pedestrians on the MIT Campus in Cambridge, Mass., duck underneath police tape, Saturday, Feb. 23. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Authorities in Massachusetts say a report of a gunman on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus was a hoax and that there is no threat to public safety.

Cambridge police said Saturday that officers searched for a man reported to be carrying a long rifle and wearing body armour and found nothing. A spokeswoman for the university says the school also called off a campus-wide lockdown.

A state police spokesman tells The Boston Globe that the report of a gunman turned out to be a hoax. It's not clear what led authorities to conclude that.

About 11,000 students attend the prestigious school in suburban Boston where students are famous for their smarts as well as their stunts, including once putting a police car on top of a domed campus building.