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Yet through conversations with people familiar with the circumstances—including a student who witnessed the original incident—a picture emerges of a crisis that began on November 29, when in the course of a performance for a class taught by visiting instructor Ron Athey, a graduate student entered a classroom at UCLA's Warner building where roughly thirty other students were gathered. The student, wearing a coat and tie, produced either a gun or a convincing replica of one, put what looked like a bullet into the weapon, spun the cylinder, and held it to his head, Russian-roulette style. He pulled the trigger, but the gun did not fire. The student then left the room; while he was out of view, a shot was heard, at which point he returned, now apparently unarmed. A short discussion ensued between what the witness described as the "freaked-out" performer and a room full of people who were "a little frozen and a little scared," and then the class broke up for the day. This version of events expands upon but is basically corroborated by UCLA's official statement made by assistant vice chancellor Lawrence Lokman, who said that the performance "raised a number of important issues and concerns for faculty, staff, and students with regard to artistic freedom, safety, and the boundaries of performance art within an academic setting." He added that the dean of students office and the University of California Police Department were investigating to determine whether the student had used "an actual gun, or a replica."