photo by: Journal-World File Photo

In this file photo from Aug. 4, 2020, a Lawrence Police Department patrol vehicle is pictured outside the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center.

A woman was taken into custody after a chaotic scene unfolded in a busy section of south Lawrence on Saturday evening.

Just before 6 p.m., Lawrence police officers responded to reports of an individual who appeared to be waving a firearm at 2727 Iowa St., a shopping center that includes Dick’s Sporting Goods, Ulta Beauty and other businesses, according to a Facebook post by Lawrence Police Department Spokeswoman Laura McCabe.

When police arrived, the woman “lifted and pointed an object at the first officer,” McCabe said in the post, adding that the officer recognized the object was not a firearm.

After being ordered to drop the item, the woman threw it to the ground. The item was identified as “an animal bone of some sort,” McCabe said in the Facebook post.

According to Douglas County Jail booking logs, 39-year-old Nicole Bolton, of Lawrence, was booked into the jail around 6:15 p.m. Saturday on suspicion of aggravated assault and is being held with no bond.