DA: Reported active shooter at Villanova was a "hoax"
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
Delaware County's district attorney says a reported shooting at Villanova University Thursday was a "hoax."
The latest: Police are investigating the false active shooter report, D.A. Jack Stollsteimer said at a Thursday evening press briefing. "This is a crime. We will track you down," Stollsteimer said.
- A shelter-in-place at the university has since ended.
State of play: Police received a report around 4pm of a shooting in the university's law school building with at least one victim, Stollsteimer said.
- "That has turned out to not be true," Stollsteimer said.
The call came in while students and families were gathered at an outdoor mass on campus, prompting a lockdown, officials said at the briefing.
- Students were told to barricade their doors and shelter in place while police investigated.
- Officers conducted a "room-to-room" sweep of campus buildings to ensure no one was hurt, the DA said.
Gov. Josh Shapiro called the situation a "cruel swatting incident," per a statement on X.
- Police will "use every tool at our disposal to find the person or people who called in this fake threat and hold them accountable."
Zoom out: A false report of an active shooter at UT-Chattanooga's campus also temporarily prompted a lockdown Thursday.
- "This is the second college today that was forced to shelter in fear," Avery Hamill of Students Demand Action from Philadelphia, a gun violence prevention advocacy group, said in a statement.
- "Even though no shots were fired, the trauma, fear, and pain that students, professors, and families carry from these lockdowns is real and enduring. No one should start their school year bracing for gun violence."
Context: Wednesday was move-in day for the school, when thousands of students and families came to campus to set up their dorms.
- Villanova held a full slate of festivities on Thursday as part of new student orientation.