Pitt hit with 'armed shooter' hoax day after school shooting in Minneapolis

The University of Pittsburgh on Thursday became the latest school targeted by a fake report of an armed shooter on campus, a day after a man opened fire during Mass at a Minneapolis Catholic school, killing two children and injuring 17.

At 12:28 p.m., University of Pittsburgh police sent out an alert about “an unconfirmed report of an armed person” at Barco Law School, a six-story building on the school’s Oakland campus.

Police warned students and staff to avoid the area.

Within minutes, though — by 12:49 p.m. — police had given the all-clear: “No credible threat. Resume normal activity.”

“The university takes all threats to our campus community seriously and seeks to quickly determine the credibility of these reported instances,” Pitt spokesman Jared Stonesifer said in a statement. “On Thursday, officers arrived on scene quickly and confirmed that there was no threat to public safety.”

The FBI on Thursday confirmed it is aware of swatting incidents “involving a number of colleges and universities,” spokesman Bradford Arick said.

“We take potential hoax threats very seriously because it puts innocent people at risk,” Arick said. “Knowingly providing false information to emergency service agencies about a possible threat to life drains law enforcement resources (and) costs thousands of dollars.”

Swatting most frequently involves placing false emergency calls to emergency responders and reporting a false and severe ongoing crisis at a specific location, according to the federal Department of Homeland Security. The crisis often involves an active shooter or bomb threat.

The goal of swatting is to provoke a significant law enforcement response, creating chaos and potentially resulting in violence, the department said on its website.

The beginning of a new academic year doesn’t insulate students or school staff from these crimes. More school-related incidents and on-campus crimes occur in September than in any other month of the year, according to the federal Department of Justice report “Crime in Schools, 2020-2024.”

From 2020 to 2024, agencies reported nearly 1.3 million criminal incidents at American schools, Justice Department officials said. Nearly 160,000 of those incidents — everything from assaults to drug offenses to crimes against property — were reported in September.

That crime report did not track swatting incidents or hoax reports of armed shooters.

West Virginia University fell victim to a swatting incident Tuesday, when a report came in about shots being fired inside a library on the Morgantown college’s campus.

That report was false, authorities said.

“Like many other higher education institutions across the country, we believe West Virginia University was the target of a ‘swatting’ incident this morning,” West Virginia University Police Chief Sherry St. Clair posted Tuesday to social media.

Similar hoaxes and false alarms recently have hit at least a dozen college campuses nationwide.

The spate of swatting attacks started last week at Villanova University, whose 250-acre campus sits about 12 miles west of Philadelphia.

Students were attending Thursday’s Orientation Mass when authorities received multiple calls about a man opening fire on campus with an AR-15 style weapon, the Associated Press reported. Sounds of gunfire could be heard in the background of the calls.

The reports were false.

Villanova’s president, the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, said in a statement “panic and terror ensued” after news broke of a possible shooter at the law school.

“Mercifully, no one was injured, and we now know that it was a cruel hoax — there was no active shooter, no injuries and no evidence of firearms present on campus,” Donohue said. “While that is a blessing and relief, I know today’s events have shaken our entire community.”

The swatting calls continued this week.

On Monday, law enforcement responded to calls claiming active shooters at the University of Arkansas, Northern Arizona University, Iowa State, Kansas State, the University of Colorado-Boulder and the University of New Hampshire.

On Tuesday, swatting incidents hit the University of Kentucky and Central Georgia Technical College, in addition to WVU.

The University of South Carolina received two calls Sunday reporting an active shooter at the school’s library, The Associated Press reported. The sound of gunshots could be heard in the background of the call.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said authorities must find whoever was behind the calls, comparing them to yelling fire in a crowded theater.

“It could have been a lot worse than it was,” McMaster said. “Maybe next time it will be worse.”

Minneapolis continues to reel from Wednesday’s shooting at Annunciation Catholic School. The shooter attacked students on the third day of school before he committed suicide.

Authorities have identified the shooter as Robin Westman, 23. Police recovered additional firearms at three residences in the Minneapolis area they said are linked to the shooter.

The two children killed while seated in church pews in Minneapolis — 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski.

Eighteen other people were injured, including three adult parishioners who were in their 80s and 15children between the ages of 6 and 15, Minneapolis police Chief Brian O’Hara said. All the injured victims are expected to recover.

Police have not determined the shooter’s motive.

The Associated Press contributed reporting to this article.