Who’s Behind Wave of False Reports of Active Shooters on Campus?

As students are returning to college campuses, many of them have had to shelter in place because of reports of an active shooter; reports that, thankfully, have been false in every case.

Has anyone noticed the recent rash of false alarm school shootings? There was another one today in Arkansas. Something is up. Sure seems like a campaign to alarm. Despicable. criminal.

— Larry Keane (@lkeane) August 25, 2025

This is now the 5th or 6th active shooter hoax at a major university in the last week or so, some of which seem to have been quite sophisticated. It’s clear we have a different type of problem on our hands at this point – and it risks undermining school safety by luring us into a…

— Amy Swearer (@AmySwearer) August 25, 2025

So far this week we’ve seen incidents at Northern Arizona University, West Virginia University, Iowa State University, University of Arkanas, University of South Carolina, Louisiana State University-Alexandria, and Villanova University (the school was hit with another false report last week). There may be others, but those are the ones that I’m aware of, and we may very well see more reports today. 

Inside Higher Ed notes this isn’t the first time that college campuses have been hit with a wave of swatting calls. Three years ago dozens of bomb threats were made to historically Black colleges and universities, and authorities eventually arrested a minor. Another teen was convicted last year of making hundreds of false reports about bombings and shootings over the span of 16 months, and was sentenced to four years in federal prison back in February. 

Is this latest wave of swatting calls another case of an idiotic teen? Are we even seeing an increase in these types of hoaxes, or are we just seeing more media coverage? CNN (I know, I know) reports there were more than 700 such calls made in 2023, but 350 calls were made in just February and March of that year. 

With at least six swatting incidents reported on Monday, we do seem to be in the midst of another spike. So who’s behind this? 

The Villanova and Chattanooga incidents on August 21 started with every university’s nightmare: a call reporting an active shooter on campus. 

In both cases, dispatchers heard what sounded like gunshots in the background of the calls – lending a disturbing realism to what turned out to be fake reports.

First, the 911 dispatch in Hamilton County, Tennessee, which encompasses the Chattanooga campus, received a call around 12:30 p.m. saying a White male with an AR-15-style rifle had shot four people near the school library, Chief Sean O’Brien of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Police said Friday. 

A few hours later, around 4:33 p.m., a similar call came in at the Department of Emergency Services in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, reporting shots fired from a man “armed with an AR-15-style weapon” on Villanova’s campus, according to a news release from Delaware County Communications and Public Affairs. Multiple similar calls followed. The incident fell on the first day of new student orientation.

Sadly, it doesn’t take a lot of tech savvy or expensive equipment to do something like this, so the culprits could be anyone intent on sowing chaos on campus; from terrorists looking to study how law enforcement responds to an active shooter incident as part of a plan to carry out a real attack in the future to idiots who get a kick out of causing panic. 

I don’t know what the answer is when it comes to stopping these swatting calls, but if nothing else they’re a reminder of the importance of being able to protect yourself and others whenever possible. Most of these campuses are “gun-free zones” (West Virginia University is a notable exception), so lawfully carrying a firearm for protection isn’t an option, but as the panicked reaction of students, staff, and visitors shows, we inherently understand that a “no guns allowed” policy won’t stop a killer from carrying out an attack. 

Let’s hope that whoever’s behind this spate of swatting calls is taken into custody soon, but let’s also work to make sure that if and when one of these calls turns out to be real, people on campus have the ability to defend themselves from harm. 

Editor’s Note: Our Second Amendment rights and the right to self-defense go hand in hand.

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