ASU gunman story returns to bite its creator

In the end, the lies piled up too fast for Matthew W. Haney to handle.

The Appalachian State University senior's attempt to avoid paying for a damaged apartment door led him to fabricate a story of a masked gunman in a Pink Floyd T-shirt running toward the Boone campus, police say. That prompted authorities to lock down the college for more than an hour Monday evening.

Haney's lies then continued with a series of television interviews. It wasn't until Tuesday morning, when he was grilled by a Boone detective, that Haney conceded that it had all been a hoax -- a creative yarn that got away from him.

"If embarrassment could be measured on a scale, it would be off the charts," said Matt Stevens, the Boone police detective who elicited Haney's confession. "He did not think this could happen."

The 22-year-old English major will likely be charged this week with filing a false police report, Stevens said. Haney faces a campus judicial hearing as well.

Police say Haney found damage to the door of his off-campus apartment Monday afternoon. Fearing he'd be fined for it, he told his apartment manager that he'd been burglarized and that the door must have been damaged then. The manager suggested that Haney call police, so the student told authorities his tale of an armed intruder with a dark mask, a Pink Floyd T-shirt and red-and-green shoes who fled in the direction of the ASU campus.

The campus of more than 14,000 students was shut down quickly. Police also received reports from others on campus of a man who fit the general description of the alleged gunman -- a 6-foot-tall man in a white T-shirt -- but without a mask or gun.

Meanwhile, reporters arrived at Haney's door, and he was happy to talk.

"All I did was, as soon as I saw the gun, I ran," he told WRAL-TV of Raleigh.

Given the chance to end the madness, Haney instead fed it, Stevens said.

"He had chances to stop it," the detective said. "There were so many points, I'm sure he's kicking himself. If it was simply an innocent mistake, he could have rectified it."

That's what bothers Forrest Gilliam, Appalachian State's student body president. Gilliam said he sympathized with Haney but is frustrated that the saga went on as long as it did. Helicopters hovered overhead, and students received calls from panicky parents who monitored news reports. Before long, phone lines were overloaded.

15 minutes of fame

"He saw what his lie was doing," said Gilliam, a senior from Marshall. "He seemed to be enjoying his time on camera."

In some news reports, Haney was identified as being from Durham. Stevens said Haney told him that he was originally from Raleigh but that his parents now live in Greenville. Haney did not respond to an e-mail request for comment Tuesday.

Along with the misdemeanor charge, he could face university sanctions ranging from community service to probation to suspension, according to campus officials.

"Under our code of student conduct, he has certainly violated several rules," said Lynn Drury, associate vice chancellor for university communications.

She said she had no idea how much the false report cost ASU, but at least the campus was able to thoroughly test new safety procedures and systems implemented after the killings at Virginia Tech last year. ASU's first e-mail alert to students, faculty and staff went out 24 minutes after police responded to the student's initial call, Drury said.

The university issued several updates on its Web site and canceled classes Monday night. After nearly an hour and a half, the university withdrew the alert.

"You can't not do what we did without knowing the end," Drury said of the lockdown decision. "We would do the same thing again and hopefully do it better."

Bring on the sirens

University officials learned a few things during the situation, Drury said. For instance, ASU would probably get only one chance to distribute a message to cell phones during a disastrous event. After that, the system would be jammed. Redundant communication systems are necessary, and the university plans to install a siren system.

"We certainly identified some bugs we need to work out," Drury said. "We probably got a B-minus."

Though the lockdown occurred late in the afternoon, some classes were in session, and some professors weren't sure how to handle the situation -- they allowed students to walk the halls, go to the bathroom and pass by windows, said Gilliam, the student body president.

But overall, there was little panic, he added. Students exchanged text messages, and many holed up in computer labs to watch updates roll in on the university Web site.

Still, the rumor mill did prove disturbing and inaccurate at times, causing stress until the lockdown was lifted, Gilliam said.

"Things were being said that just weren't true," he said. "A lot of people thought there was a gunman loose on campus."