Math symbol sparks police search for gun

The Town Talk

Show Caption Hide Caption This phone case is also a stun gun A pair of Louisiana businessmen is working to help people defend themselves by building phone cases that double as personal protection devices.

A statement made as a joke ended up leading Allen Parish Sheriff's deputies to search a student's home after getting reports about a gun.As it turns out, the "gun" in question was a drawing of a mathematical square root symbol.

KATC TV reports that on Tuesday afternoon, Allen Parish Sheriff's Office deputies investigated an allegation of terrorist threats at Oberlin High School, according to the department's Facebook page. The investigation revealed a student was completing a math problem and drew the sign for square root. Deputies say another student made a comment that the symbol looked like a gun and several other students made similar comments.

From there, the message took on a life of its own. "He (the student) committed no crime. He was the victim of the ole morphing of information [phenomenon]," Allen Parish Sheriff Doug Hebert told KATC.

According to posts on the Allen Parish Sheriff's Office Facebook page, the department has investigated a number of gun-related incidents, including one that turned out to be a pellet gun.