Active Shooter reports that the University of Tennessee, Villanova University, the University of South Carolina and the University of Arkansas have recently appeared. Reports cause resources of fear and wastedness.
Villanova University Shooter warns “cruel hoax” and no one gets injured
Villanova Univ. Pastor Peter Donohue confirmed that the report of the active shooter was “cruel hoax” and that no injuries or firearms were found on campus.
When students from at least five colleges across the United States were supposed to be preparing for the first day of class, they were running, hiding and barricaded for reporting on active shooters.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on August 21 and Villanova University on August 24, attacked the University of South Carolina.
They turned out to be hoaxes, but such reports usually terrorize students and their parents, waste millions of dollars of initial response resources. On August 25th, the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, is also considering active shooter alerts that could prove falsehood.
Gary Cordner, former police chief and professor of police research who updates the Arizona State University’s Issues Oriented Police Center’s Guide to Misuse and Abuse at 911, said people reporting fear and panic just like that.
“The term active shooter probably only induces fear as much as you could think of,” he said. “So, until you can completely wipe out one of them, it certainly induces a lot of fear.”
And with actual active shooters attacking in the US from time to time, universities and police departments have no choice but to deploy all the resources available.
“It cannot be ignored. It cannot be dismissed just because the outcome can be very disastrous,” Cordner said. “The university campus, they’re very big and there are a lot of buildings, so it’s a big job to check it out just to decide that nothing’s going on.”
In the wake of last week’s panic on university campus, USA Today is looking at the common hoaxes that cause mass panic, why it happens, what is happening, what can be done.
What is swatting? How much is the problem?
Hoaxes have plagued the country for many years, including schools, grocery stores, office buildings, and airports. Also known as swatting, false reports of serious crimes are intended to cause a heavy response by law enforcement.
“This is a big problem,” said Elizabeth Jaff, an associate professor at John Marshall Law School in Atlanta, which said it was cyberbullying and social media. “If you have hundreds and thousands because one incident is a big problem, it’s an evolving trend.”
According to the Prevention Prevention League, the estimated swatting incidents jumped from 400 in 2011 to over 1,000 in 2019.
In January 2023 to June 2024 alone, more than 800 instances were recorded in primary, middle and high schools in the US, according to the K-12 school shooting database created by doctoral students at the University of Central Florida in response to the 2018 Parkland High School shooting.
The FBI has been aware of the issue since at least 2008, according to a release from the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division.
Who is swatting?
Swatting was popular even if it was popular as a potentially deadly hoax among gamers in the early 2000s, according to researchers from the Prevention League. Since then, it has become a tool for everyone, from planksters to online extremists, according to Carla Hill, senior director of research in the Prevention League.
“Previously someone would pull the fire alarm because they didn’t want to go to school. Now they slam the school,” Hill said.
“They get the thrill from that,” Jaffe said.
Hill, who has also worked to track swatters, played the role of instruments in the FBI investigation of Swatter’s rings, which targeted Jewish and minority agencies in 2023.
Hill said the group was fortunate enough to boast about their online exploits. According to the FBI, the group targeted at least 25 synagogues in 13 states.
However, law enforcement can be difficult to track down unless the swatter uses his or publicly speaks about it. “There are many ways to do that without being traceable,” Hill said.
Why are you having such a big problem?
Not only does the hoax disrupt schools and businesses, it also drains police, fire and EMS resources that compete on the scene.
“We have to treat each of them as authentic until we know it’s a hoax,” Kelly Smith, a former assistant special agent in the FBI’s Seattle office, said in an agency video on the issue. “We are leading law enforcement resources away from other active investigations, which puts a great strain on the resources of both our agencies and our local police department.”
David Riedman, data scientist and creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, estimates that in 2023 it will cost police $82,300,000 to respond to false threats.
And, in addition to the fear that swatting can cause, it can win innocent bystanders in dangerous situations. According to a report by Harvard Crimson, four Harvard undergraduate students were detained at gunpoint in a 2023 attack at Ivy League Schools.
And some cases of swatting have become fatal. Tyler Barris, a gamer with a history of demacalls in connection with Andrew Finch’s shooting death in Wichita, Kansas in 2017, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, according to a report by NBC News. Finch was shot and killed by police in response to a swatting call made by Barris. Finch, who had no idea about Barris, lived at the address that Barris believed there was a target.
What can you do about swatting?
Experts agree that stronger laws, stricter penalties and better techniques to track swatters are needed.
“It’s often this kind of thing with technology. We need to catch up,” Hill said, adding that some states have strong protections. “You need to get some laws in your book.”
John DeCarlo, a former police chief who responded to the hoax and now a professor at Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences at New Haven University, said one major step is to deal with the FBI treating it as a federal crime, but he agreed that technology is a major hurdle as stolen goods can mask the voice.
For example, earlier this year, a 18-year-old Southern California man from Southern California, who said prosecutors made more than 375 swatting and threat calls between August 2022 and January 2024, including reports of mass shootings, was sentenced to four years in prison.
DeCarlo said he is hoping for more swatting incidents similar to the past week as authorities will scramble to track down the swatters.
“The fact is, in this way, all demacoles divert officers from real emergency and real risks, and that’s the real tragedy,” he said. “We’ll take public protection where we need it.”
Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter at USA Today. Follow her on x at @amandaleusat. Michael Loria is a national reporter for USA Today Breaking News Desk. Contact him at mtoria @usatoday.com, @mchael_mchael or (202) 290-4585.
