The University of South Alabama offered an official apology Thursday to a student who was given a citation for “threatening the safety of campus” with an empty holster.

“On April 13, 2016, the University of South Alabama Police Department received an anonymous report that a person in the Student Center may have been carrying an ‘unconcealed gun,’” the university statement begins, adding that “USAPD officers arrived at the location and, following an on-site interview with a student wearing an empty gun holster, issued a campus judicial citation to the student.”

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“Upon further investigation, it has been determined that the citation should not have been issued and it has been rescinded,” the university concedes. “University Police are conducting an internal investigation of the matter.”

DJ Parten, the student who received the citation, was also contacted the the chief of campus police, who invited him to come to the station for a personal apology from the officers involved in the incident.

“I really appreciated the chief's apology,” Parten told Campus Reform, saying, “I hope that this opens a discussion on how we can better improve relations between the police and the student body.”

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