The Cincinnati S.W.A.T. team conducted a large-scale “search and room entry” raid on the University of Cincinnati (UC) without notifying students early this week, a university spokesman confirmed on Thursday.



A video, posted on YouTube on Sept. 11 by a passerby, depicts nearly a dozen heavily armed men pile out of a black armored vehicle bearing a large Department of Homeland Security sticker.

Most of the officers appeared to be carrying high-powered assault rifles.



Spokesman for the university, Greg Hand, initially denied knowledge of the raid, but later confirmed a “search and room entry” drill had occurred and added that the campus community had not been warned.



“The drill did not involve UC students,” said Hand. “We do notify the campus more broadly when we are using buildings that are in use, particularly in use by students.”



The video, however, shows multiple pedestrians walking past the drill and the still unidentified cameraman claiming that he stumbled upon the scene while headed to class.



“I just rolled onto UC campus for class and ran into this scene right here,” says a so-far unidentified student who captured the incident on camera. “Pretty…pretty unreal.”

WATCH: DHS-affiliated SWAT team caught on camera staging unannounced military-style raid at public university







While the cameraman of the video noted that the date of the raid was Sept. 11, Hand denied that report claiming the raid had occurred on Sept. 10. Campus Reform has not yet been able to confirm the actual date of the raid.



Cincinnati Police Department spokeswoman Fran Cihon refused comment on the raid but an officer on the scene was recorded telling the student making the video not to ask too many questions.

Student: Thank you. Are you guys local? Is this all Cincinnati? Any federal agencies involved also? With you guys?

SWAT: Don’t ask so many questions.

Student: Don’t ask any questions? You don’t feel comfortable answering questions?

SWAT: No, but we’re not here to do interviews. We’re here to train. If you want to observe what we’re doing, that’s fine, but just stay back …

Student: Sure.

SWAT: And..

Student: Don’t ask questions

SWAT: Preferably. We’ve told you pretty much all what you need to know.

The official spokesman for the UC Police Department also did not reply to requests for comment.

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