Editor’s Note: This article was continually updated over the course of the afternoon of Monday, Nov. 3 to reflect the most recent information.
The University Police Department said there was no evidence of an active shooter on Grounds at 4:43 p.m. Monday after the University previously shared a “RUN, HIDE, FIGHT” alert with community members at 3:05 p.m. The alert had stated that there was an active attacker with a gun in the area of Shannon Library, but an extensive search by police later confirmed no attack had taken place.
The final alert said that the University is conducting an investigation into the false report of an active attacker. The University joins a list of over a dozen other universities which have had false reports of active shooters on campus this fall alone. Most of those false reports came during a short period in August, however.
Tim Longo, associate vice president for safety and security and chief of police, told The Cavalier Daily that police had searched the entirety of Shannon and confirmed through video and eyewitnesses that there was no evidence of an attacker before issuing the all clear. Moving forward, he said University Police will work with state and federal partners to determine where the false report originated.
“The objective is to find out who made the call, who was the source of information that tried to bring chaos to our university,” Longo said. “This [was] an unfounded call. There's no basis of fact to believe we had an attacker here, or that there were shots fired.”
He shared that the report received about Shannon was the original call, but that others came through after the first alert.
“There were other calls from people hearing sounds that they thought might have been gunfire. [That] could have been doors slamming as people were evacuating from one place to the next. And those calls come into our 911 center, just like this one did, and the resources on the ground respond to those calls [as well],” Longo said.
Longo urged students to be careful about trusting information on social media — he noted that the University aims to provide alerts every 15 minutes and said that students should focus on those alerts during shelter-in-place orders.
“In that 15 minutes we're constantly gathering information,” Longo said. “There's a conference call that's called the incident action group call that is triggered at the same time. A number of senior leaders from the University are on that call, and we're briefed immediately by the first person to respond to the scene.”
In a statement to the University community Monday afternoon, Interim University President Paul Mahoney said that the University will continue to work with police on investigating the origin of the false report. He also asked students to take care of one another after a distressing situation.
“I realize today’s incident was deeply frightening and alarming. Your safety has been and will continue to be my top priority,” Mahoney said. “I encourage you to check in with your friends and peers, and to take advantage of University support.”
Timeline of alerts
At 3:05 p.m. the first alert was issued, notifying community members of a possible active shooter near Shannon Library. The message said “RUN, HIDE, FIGHT.”
At 3:17 p.m. police shared a message saying that police were on scene at Shannon Library and that academic buildings were moving to keycard access control only.
At 3:34 p.m. the University issued another alert, saying that police are continuing to investigate Shannon Library but said there is no evidence of an attacker.
At 3:41 p.m., the University clarified that community members should continue to “RUN, HIDE, FIGHT.”
The University reiterated this message at 3:58 p.m., saying that while the situation is still being investigated, there is no evidence that an attack has occurred. The community should still “RUN, HIDE, FIGHT,” according to the announcement.
University Spokesperson Bethanie Glover said that at 3 p.m., University Police received reports of an active shooter, but that as of 4:03 p.m., authorities had not found evidence for the report.
“Buildings were locked down and safety alerts were issued to the community,” Glover said. “No evidence of an active shooter has been located by authorities as of this writing. Members of the community should continue to follow run, hide, fight protocol until an all-clear is issued.”
Additional University alerts came at 4:13 p.m. and 4:29 p.m., reiterating the same message.
This was the first time since Feb. 27 that the University has issued a “RUN, HIDE, FIGHT” message. The last time this message was issued was following an active knife attacker near Alumni Hall.
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