Weapon Used In UMass Assault That Prompted Lockdown Was BB Gun

BELCHERTOWN, Mass. (AP) — Prosecutors say the Framingham man charged with assaulting a student in a University of Massachusetts-Amherst dormitory during a drug deal was armed with a BB gun, not a real gun.

The information was revealed in court Wednesday when 19-year-old William McKeown was freed on $7,500 bail and placed under house arrest with GPS monitoring.

McKeown previously pleaded not guilty to armed robbery and assault and battery with a deadly weapon.

Police allege McKeown and another man were let into Pierpont House on Thursday to sell marijuana before McKeown struck the victim on the head with the BB gun and stole $120.

Reports of armed men on campus prompted a two-hour shelter-in place order.

McKeown's lawyer has refused comment.

The accomplice has not been arrested. The suspects are not UMass students.

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