Good police work a week or so ago in Escanaba in all likelihood helped avoid an innocent situation turning catastrophic.

This situation took place on the campus of Bay de Noc Community College.

According to police records, Escanaba Public Safety officers were dispatched to the campus at 11:01 p.m. after a report of a subject walking around the dorms carrying an AR rifle.

The mere thought of such a thing, given the troubled world we live in, sends shivers down one’s spine.

According to a news release from Escanaba Public Safety, officers arrived on scene and started searching the campus, working with Bay College staff to review camera footage and interview students while searching for the suspect.

Officers learned from interviews and video footage that three suspects were wearing Halloween masks and one had a plastic Halloween machete.

Officers also learned that no actual weapons were involved and the three students were pranking other students.

The three students were identified and interviewed by officers.

This circumstance could have easily turned into a horrifying situation, but didn’t, because the police officers involved did what good police officers do: they checked and double-checked the report, cross referencing source material to get a good handle on what was actually happening.

We salute the police agencies involved, principally the Escanaba Public Safety Department but also the Delta County Sheriff’s Department, the Michigan State Police, Bay College staff and Delta County Dispatch.

Gun violence has all of us on edge pretty much all of the time. Thankfully, this situation was defused, so to speak, before disaster struck.