Suspect later arrested without incident at his home

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A man who allegedly threatened a student with a gun at a community college, prompting a room-by-room search through college buildings by an army of law officers, was arrested Friday night.

Witnesses said an argument over rap music at Minneapolis Community and Technical College led to an eight-hour search by more than 100 law officers, including four SWAT teams. Officers cordoned off the college, evacuated students and faculty, and painstakingly searched campus buildings.

''We appreciated that they took this very seriously,'' said Phillip Davis, college president.

The man was arrested at 8:43 p.m. without incident at his home in south Minneapolis, said police spokeswoman Cyndi Montgomery. He had no weapon, but he did have a full magazine of bullets and was wearing a bulletproof vest, said police Lt. Robert Allen.

During the lunch hour, the man approached the student in a cafeteria and they had words about the man's rap music.

Ian Wright, another student who was eating lunch, said he heard the student tell the suspect that his music was ''whack,'' meaning it was bad. The man began shouting at the student, Wright said.

The student, identified by college officials as Chris Martin, tried to walk away. But the man followed.

''He was saying, 'I'm going to kill you,''', Wright said. ''He was saying, 'Look at my record, look in my eyes.'''

The suspect then threatened Martin and a security guard with what looked like a 9mm handgun and ran into the school's fine arts building, Montgomery said.

Heavily armed police officers, SWAT teams, state troopers, Hennepin County Sheriff's deputies, and agents of the FBI and state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension converged on the campus.