The trend of false reports about active shooters on college campuses hit close to home Tuesday at the University of Kentucky.
About 12:15 Tuesday afternoon, the UK Police Department and Lexington Police responded to a false report about an active shooter near William T. Young Library. Police responded in less than two minutes and utilized the campus camera system to immediately determine that this report was a hoax.
Police have been monitoring false reports of threats at universities across the country this week.
What is believed to have been the first such incident happened last Thursday at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, with a second one a few hours later at Villanova University in Philadelphia. In both cases, there was no active shooter.
More recently, NBC News reported that at least a half-dozen universities across the country welcomed students to first-day-of-fall classes Monday with run-and-hide warnings about possible gunmen. NBC said the reports were sent to students at the University of Arkansas, University of Colorado Boulder, Iowa State University, Kansas State University, the University of New Hampshire and Northern Arizona University, according to student alerts and school statements.
In almost every case, police and administrators said the reports were hoaxes or swatting calls, which is when someone uses temporary cellphone numbers and voice-cloaking apps to create havoc.
In addition, the University of South Carolina also received two reports of an active shooter at Thomas Cooper Library in Columbia on Sunday night. Those reports also turned out to be false.
