MORGANTOWN — A little after 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, a call came in to MECCA 911 dispatch reporting gunshots on West Virginia University’s downtown campus.
At 7:43 a.m., WVU issued a text alert to students, faculty and staff alerting them to possible gunfire in the area of Wise Library.
Even as students checked their phones, officers from the WVU Police Department and surrounding agencies were streaming through the library.
The building was secure. There was no shooter.
A second “all clear” text and email went out at 8:06 a.m.
University officials say it was a false report, placing WVU at the bottom of a rapidly growing list of colleges and universities hit with hoax “swatting” calls in recent days.
“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,” West Virginia University Police Department Chief Sherry St. Clair said in a statement issued by the university.
“With support from other area law enforcement agencies, including the Morgantown Police Department, the Star City Police Department and the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department, our officers quickly arrived at the scene, efficiently cleared the building and determined this was a false report.”
Morgantown Communications Director Brad Riffee said all schools in the vicinity were locked down until the call was confirmed to be a hoax.
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, swatting calls and hoax threats are intended to cause panic and confusion, creating potentially dangerous interactions with responding law enforcement.
“Swatting calls and hoax threats are a daily occurrence, often come in clusters across the U.S., and are typically made to harass, intimidate, and/or retaliate against their intended target,” a DHS memo explains.
In this case, WVU is part of a cluster of recent calls targeting universities.
According to media reports, the University of Arkansas, the University of Colorado, Iowa State University, Kansas State University, the University of New Hampshire and Northern Arizona University are all investigating false active shooter calls from Monday.
The University of South Carolina told students to shelter in place Sunday due to an active shooter call that was later determined to be a false report. Two people were injured in the evacuation of a campus building.
Villanova University was hit with two “swatting’ calls in the span of four days last week. The first occurred Thursday, the same day law enforcement near the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga responded to a false call reporting active shooters.
According to West Virginia Code (61-6-20) knowingly reporting a false emergency is a misdemeanor carrying a penalty of up to a $500 fine and/or no more than six months in jail. A second violation, or any violation that results in bodily injury to another person, is a felony carrying a fine of $5,000 to $10,000 and/or incarceration for one to five years.
WVU is asking anyone with information that may be helpful to investigators to call UPD at 304-293-3136.
“We sincerely thank our partner agencies and the entire University community for their cooperation on this matter.”
