About one quarter of the University Christian Church parking lot was blocked off Monday evening due to a suspected gas leak from the adjacent neighborhood.

TCU police arrived at the lot on West Cantey St. across from the Walsh Center for Performing Arts at around 5 p.m. Monday after receiving a call reporting a weird gas smell. They then roped off a section of the lot to keep bystanders at a distance.

Two trucks from Atmos Energy showed up shortly after to determine the validity of the report. After a quick survey of the area they suspected that the smell was natural gas.

As of 7 p.m. the two Atmos Energy employees were unable to pinpoint the exact source of the leak.

“It’s somewhere between all the way down there and back here at the truck,” said one employee, gesturing along the alley near Rodgers St. between West Cantey and McPherson St. “But right now the smell is everywhere.”

The Atmos Energy employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said they would probably have to get a whole crew to dig up the site and find the source.

“Somebody must have hit it, or they’ve been digging where they’re not supposed to,” he said.

When asked how long it would take to dig up the alley and fix the leak the employee smiled and said “the people in these houses [between West Cantey and McPherson] probably won’t be getting very much sleep tonight.”