As students have started returning to their college campuses for the fall semester, a number of universities have faced false reports of active shooters.
On Tuesday morning, officers responded to a call about gunshots near a campus library at West Virginia University (WVU), but later said that investigators found it was a “hoax” and there was “no threat to campus.”
“Like many other higher education institutions across the country, we believe West Virginia University was the target of a ‘swatting’ incident this morning on the Downtown area of the Morgantown Campus,” WVU Police Chief Sherry St. Clair said in a statement posted on social media.
A number of other schools have also received false reports of gunmen on their campuses since late last week, including the University of Colorado Boulder; the University of New Hampshire; the University of Arkansas; Iowa State University; the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; the University of South Carolina; the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; and Villanova University.
Such hoax calls, often referred to as “swatting,” have targeted a range of people and locations in recent years, including hundreds of schools across the U.S. Here’s what to know about the latest incidents, and about false active shooter reports more broadly.
The recent incidents
Shortly after 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, authorities received a report that shots had been fired at a library on the WVU campus. Officers responded to the scene, and after clearing the building, concluded that it was a false report, according to WVU.
The day before, at least five other schools dealt with similar incidents.
Just before 5 p.m. on Monday, authorities received a report from someone who claimed they heard shots fired near a library on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. The school sent an alert to campus community members advising them to shelter in place, but police searched the area and didn’t find anyone injured or any suspects. The school later said it was “the latest target in a string of hoaxes directed at campuses around the country.”
Read More: Hoax Active Shooter ‘Swatting’ Calls Are Tormenting Schools. Police Can Do Little to Stop Them
Also on Monday evening, the University of New Hampshire Police Department responded to a report of gunshots in a campus library. But after officers searched the area, they determined that the call was a hoax.
Earlier in the day, shortly before 2 p.m., the University of Arkansas advised campus community members to avoid the area near a library because of a reported active shooter. The school later said that police were “responding to multiple reports around campus.” But a couple hours later, the University of Arkansas said that police didn’t find any evidence of an active shooter on campus.
Iowa State University also grappled with false reports on Monday. Officers responded to the scene after receiving multiple calls about an active shooter on campus, but “found no credible threat,” the school said. “The calls appear to be similar to several anonymous and false ‘swatting calls’ at universities across the country, triggering a response from law enforcement,” the Iowa State University Police Department said in a press release.
And around 1 p.m. on Monday, authorities received a call that someone had a weapon at a library on the University of Tennessee, Knoxville campus. Officers searched the area, but didn’t find anyone who posed such a threat.
On Sunday evening, authorities received two separate calls claiming that there was an active shooter at a University of South Carolina library. Both calls were made by a man whose identity is unknown, and included background noise that sounded like gunfire, according to the University of South Carolina. The school advised campus community members to shelter in place, and officers searched the area. But the campus police department later said that it believes the incident “was part of a swatting hoax,” noting that similar incidents have occurred at other universities recently.
Last week, on Thursday, authorities received a call about an active shooter on the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus. But officers found no evidence of a shooting, no injuries, and no active threat to campus, and determined that it was a “false threat.”
Villanova University received two false reports, one on Thursday and one on Sunday. Associate Vice President of Public Safety and Chief of Police David Tedjeske said in a message to campus community members on Tuesday that federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies are investigating the incidents, adding that other schools across the country have dealt with similar hoaxes. Tedjeske didn’t share many details about the false report calls, citing the ongoing investigation. Authorities haven’t yet identified the person or people behind the calls, according to Tedjeske.
“These phone calls were complete hoaxes and the safety of our campus and community was never compromised,” Tedjeske said, though later added that any report of a possible active shooter would be taken seriously. “We will never risk the safety of this community by assuming that the next call is ‘just another hoax.’”
What is swatting?
Swatting refers to when an individual makes “malicious hoax calls to emergency services,” such as falsely reporting a shooting or bomb, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
“The intent is to cause large-scale deployment of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams, bomb squads, and other police resources,” DHS said.
Authorities say phony reports divert first responders away from real emergencies, and that these hoax calls can spark fear and even be dangerous, since officers respond to the scene expecting to encounter a serious threat.
According to DHS, swatting incidents often occur in “clusters” across the country.
A growing problem
Swatting incidents have become increasingly frequent in the U.S. in recent years.
According to research by the Educator’s School Safety Network, a nonprofit focused on school safety, nearly 64% of all violent incidents in the 2022-2023 school year were false active shooter reports, making swatting the most frequent violent incident reported that year. The nonprofit recorded more than 446 swatting incidents in that time, a 546% increase from the 2018-2019 school year.
“This alarming trend has increased dramatically and shows no sign of slowing,” Educator’s School Safety Network said on its website. “While these swatting incidents may be considered ‘just a threat,’ in reality they have a significant impact by traumatizing students and staff, consuming emergency response resources, robbing students of instructional time, and undermining the perception of safety and security required for a school to function effectively.”
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