photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

A Lawrence Police Department patrol vehicle is pictured June 28, 2022.

A string of 911 calls about suspected gunfire across Lawrence on Wednesday night turned out to be a backfiring truck, police said.

The calls came from southeast to the northwest of Lawrence and started just before 9 p.m. They didn’t stop until 10:30 p.m. Officers and detectives went in search of a suspect, and Ring camera video identified a black truck, but there were no shell casings that indicated gunfire, according to a social media post from the Lawrence Police Department.

An officer eventually spotted the truck and observed that it was backfiring. In response, the officer stopped the driver, of Topeka, and he was cited for defective equipment. The driver then left Lawrence, the post said.

“Due to the amount of calls received regarding the ‘gunshots,’ officers and detectives interviewed several witnesses,” the post said. “At this time, the black truck appears to be the only plausible culprit.”