A scheduled active shooter training for the University Police Department was canceled for an unscheduled bomb threat that triggered the evacuation and closure of West Virginia University’s downtown campus Tuesday afternoon.
The call was made to the Morgantown Police Department which notified the University Police. WVU officials said the closure was “out of an abundance of caution.”
After thoroughly searching campus buildings, WVU reported that no device was found and an all clear was issued just before 4 p.m. WVU sent the initial alert to evacuate the area just after 1 p.m.
University officials said similar threats were received at Shenandoah University and BridgeValley Community and Technical College, but it is still unclear if the threats are related.
“It’s early in the investigation, but we believe the bomb threat against WVU is part of a series of such hoax calls made to other campuses,” University Police Department Chief Sherry St. Clair said in a press release.
“We will be working with the FBI and our other law enforcement partners to locate, arrest and fully prosecute the person or people responsible. We have zero tolerance for such unwarranted disruptions on our campus.”
According to the information released from WVU, several teams with bomb-sniffing dogs completed building sweeps of downtown academic and administrative buildings along with the Mountainlair before giving the all clear.
Officials said all buildings on WVU’s downtown campus in Morgantown are scheduled to reopen for normal hours Wednesday.
