WHEELING, W.Va.---

Wheeling police worked to find a distraught man who they say called a woman and threatened to take his own life.

Chief Shawn Schwertfeger said that rumors started swirling that the man was walking the downtown streets with a gun.

"That was simply not true. We got a call that a man made a phone call, and we went searching, for his well-being," said Schwertfeger.

In the meantime, West Virginia Northern Community College put its downtown campus on lockdown. "There were no students there, they are out for break, but faculty and staff were inside. They made that decision and I think it was very proactive of them to do that," said Schwertfeger.

As for what happened, Schwertfeger said that a witness claimed to have seen the man walking north on Chapline Street.
It's unknown if the man was ever on the streets. Police did search several areas where they believed him to be, but were unsuccessful.

"Based on the information we knew, in no way did we believe the public was in danger, but we did increase our visibility, just to be safe," said Schwertfeger.

He said statements that the man was armed with a shotgun, walked into the city-county building and was riding a bike around the area are simply not true.

"He is not in trouble, and we're not releasing his name, we just want to talk to him," said Schwertfeger.