Man who created panic over weapon at college sentenced

A Powell man COLUMBUS — who caused a panic at Columbus State Community College by getting into a fight that set off an “active shooter” alert was sentenced Thursday to six months in jail.

Deandre McClarin, 19, was given credit for the nearly five months he served in jail after his arrest, leaving 39 days on his sentence. Franklin County Common Pleas Laurel Beatty Blunt also placed him on probation for four years.

In November, a jury convicted McClarin, who was not a Columbus State student, of inducing panic and possessing a weapon on school grounds for a March 8 incident in the campus’s Technology and Learning building. Although he was accused of showing a gun during a dispute with a male student over a woman, the jurors seemed unconvinced that the weapon was a gun. They declined to convict him of a firearms specification and acquitted him of a charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

According to testimony, McClarin waited outside a classroom and confronted the male student over an issue involving McClarin’s girlfriend. After the two fought briefly, McClarin left with his girlfriend and the student told campus police that the man he fought with had displayed a gun.

Students immediately received text and email alerts about a man on campus with a gun, causing some students to run through hallways and barricade themselves in classrooms. Columbus State officials eventually canceled classes for the remainder of the day.

During the trial, no witnesses, including the victim, said they saw McClarin with a gun. The man who fought with McClarin testified that McClarin reached into his pocket for a small item that was either black or gray.

McClarin’s girlfriend, Emilee I. Hall, 20, also of Powell, pleaded guilty in November to a misdemeanor charge of attempted obstruction of justice. She was accused of misleading investigators about the incident. Beatty Blunt sentenced her Thursday to two years of probation, but said she would terminate her probation as soon as Hall and McClarin pay restitution for medical costs for a student injured in the panic.

The amount of restitution for the medical bills is $1,639.