Parts of the southern section of the UW-Madison campus were put on lockdown Friday afternoon when police swarmed the area to search for a suspicious, possibly armed man, who was believed to be inside a UW-Madison building.
Madison police said they received a call just after 11 a.m. about an alleged armed robbery at Fraboni's, 822 Regent St., an Italian deli, located just south of many UW-Madison dorms and administrative buildings.
According to the police report, the robber implied he had held a weapon to a Fraboni's employee. Madison Police Department spokesperson Joel DeSpain said police surveyed the scene and found a bike and clothing near the crime scene and connected it to the suspect.
Shortly thereafter, police put the Welcome Center, 21 N. Park St., Newell Smith Residence Hall and the new Ogg Hall on lockdown because a person of interest - identified as Marcus Chavous, 46, of Madison - was inside the Center.
Once we heard that the suspect was possibly seen inside 21 N. Park St., we locked down the building,"" said University of Wisconsin Police Department Sgt. Clark Brunner.
""University communications sent out a mass e-mail to approximately 60,000 people on the UW campus '¦ stating that they should avoid this area until the all clear was given.""
Friday's lockdown comes on the heels of the chaotic events Tuesday, in which police warned people about Jesse Miller, a suicidal man who claimed he was armed and that he wanted police to kill him.
However, the big difference between the two campus lockdowns was that Friday's lockdown was resolved within hours.
DeSpain said Chavous was found inside the Welcome Center - only hours after the first reports of the robbery - and taken into custody, not as the suspect, only as a person of interest.
Both DeSpain and Brunner commended the public's help in this case. DeSpain said it would have been difficult to resolve without the help of a Fraboni's employee, who after being held up, followed the suspect and was able to give police a description of the man.
