The Ripon Police Department was placed on high alert on Sunday when reports came into the agency that there was somebody brandishing a gun at the Mistlin Sports Complex.

It turned out not to be true.

Officers did in fact to respond to a chaotic scene at the sports complex – which is a popular spot for youth soccer on the weekends. After making contact with the reporting party, officers were eventually able to determine that the call was a misunderstanding.

According to the agency, the original reporting party said that he observed what looked like the magazine of a firearm being loaded by the subject. That prompted that person to start informing people that were in attendance that the subject had a gun, which led to some of the chaos at the scene.

Officers were eventually able to identify the person that the individual called the police about and determined that what was perceived to be the magazine for a firearm was in actuality a battery pack used to charge a cellular phone.

“The initial declaration of a firearm, turned into a variety of claims, including that shots were fired,” the agency said in the release about the incident. “None of them were/are true.

“Please follow us for important notifications within our community.”

One of the people that was in attendance commented on the agency’s social media announcement about the incident and said it was “the scariest thing (they) have seen in a long time – describing panicked parents dragging kids away from the scene as fast as they could including some that scaled fences to get to what they thought would be safety.

Another commenter said that some parents were pushing their children into the vehicles of strangers to try and get them away from the scene – describing a “traumatizing” scene that terrified the children that were in attendance.

To contact Bulletin reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.