Honolulu police have detained a man described as "possibly armed" and "distraught" by University of Hawaii officials who issued a Manoa campus-wide alert for several hours this afternoon.

Police found him in the Diamond Head area before 3 p.m., and a police spokeswoman said officers did not find a weapon on him. She said he was in "custody" but  not arrested, and was taken to a hospital for observation. 

Just before 3 p.m., UH-Manoa officials sent out a bulletin saying, "Suspect apprehended by police off campus around 2:30 pm. All clear. Crisis counseling is available, call 956-7927."

Gregg Takayama, University of Hawaii spokesman, said the man’s girlfriend called the university around 11:45 a.m., warning that the man had a handgun, a .45-caliber semiautomatic, in his backpack.

She told UH officials they had argued at Jefferson Hall on the East-West Center portion of the campus, said campus security chief Wayne Ogino. He then ran toward the back of the building and along Manoa stream side leading to the Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies across Dole Street, Ogino said.

At 12:05 p.m. university officials issued the campus-wide alert saying the suspect is an Asian male about 5 feet 7 inches, wearing black and blue long-sleeve shirt, dark shorts and a baseball cap, and carrying a blue backpack.

The alert said he was "distraught" and was "possibly armed."

The girlfriend told UH officials that she was more concerned he was suicidal than a danger to others, Ogino said.

At 12:30 p.m. authorities searched the parking structure and the loi near the Hawaiian Studies building, and other buildings on the Manoa campus.

Nearby schools were put on lockdown for about two hours.