‘Everybody Is on Pins and Needles’: Colleges Are Assailed With Hoax Calls About Active Shooters

Colleges in Texas, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere were shaken last week by a series of “swatting” incidents in which callers falsely reported active shooters to the police. The calls, similar to fake bomb threats, are designed to provoke an intense law-enforcement response and stoke fear on a college campus. Callers seize upon the real threat of gun violence on campus to send community members into a panic. Recent mass shootings at Michigan State University and the Covenant School, in Nashville, have left many colleges and K-12 schools on edge. Last week’s fake calls prompted some students to speak out about what they saw as shortcomings in their campus emergency-response protocols.