WASHINGTON - The Metropolitan Police Department (web|news) did not investigate an incident in which a temporary worker for Howard University allegedly pulled a gun and threatened a co-worker, despite administrators' assertions, ABC 7/NewsChannel 8 has learned.

On July 25, a Howard University temporary employee who had apparently gone unpaid because of ongoing payroll problems pulled a gun and demanded a paycheck, the university confirmed for the first time Wednesday.

The incident happened at a large administrative building on campus. The man, who eventually received payment, no longer works for the school.

The school revealed Thursday that campus security investigated the incident and eventually applied for an arrest warrant for the employee, who was not identified. The man was arrested and turned over to D.C. police on a gun charge.

The U.S. Attorney's Office is prosecuting the case.

When asked about it Thursday, both the U.S. Attorney's Office and the MPD said they had now knowledge of the case. It appears that is because the university did not fully explain the incident when turning over the suspect.

In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech mass murder by a lone gunman, Howard University, along with other universities, implemented a text and e-mail alert system. Despite Howard administrators' repeated assertion that it is "school policy" to send out an alert during such an event, the school admitted Thursday that no alert was sent.

The school said the incident took place over the summer, when few students are on campus.

Students say that while they receive text message alerts all the time, they were never alerted to a distraught employee with a gun on the campus.

"I get texts and all kinds of alerts," said one student, but "I didn't get a text or anything an e-mail or anything about it." 

ABC 7/NewsChannel 8 first reported the university's payroll problems in February, which have been an ongoing source of rage on the Northwest D.C. Campus. But students were surprised to learn of the incident, and that the university had declined to make it public. 

Students questioned administrators' decision to clamp down on information about the incident. None of the students who spoke with ABC 7/NewsChannel 8 even knew about it, they said.

"I feel like we should be a notified about it, to prevent any kind of escalating into a Virginia Tech-type situation," said Desmond Carswell, a student.

When initially questioned about the incident, some Howard officials grew angry and refused to comment. Earlier this year, questions about the persistent payroll problems met with the same response. Eventually the university blamed the missed checks on a new software system, and chronic glitches.

"People need to get paid if they gonna be working, you know, so I don't know -- they should fix that problem," said one student, who didn't want to be identified.