(NEW YORK) — For the second time in less than a week, Villanova University was the scene of an active shooter hoax report on Sunday, prompting police to clear buildings at the Pennsylvania campus before investigators determined the incident was not legitimate, officials said.
The false call came in at around 11 a.m. and was directed at Austin Hall, a student dormitory on the campus in Radnor, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia, authorities said.
“Law enforcement has confirmed the call to be false. Officers are working to clear the campus and restore normal operations,” the Radnor Police Department said in a social media post around 11:39 a.m. local time.
It was the second time in four days that Villanova had been targeted in what authorities described as a “swatting incident,” a fake report intended to prompt a large law enforcement response. On Thursday, Villanova University received a report of a possible shooter at its law school but the report was later determined to be a hoax after university officials issued an alert warning of an active shooter on campus.
Thursday’s incident, which came as the school was celebrating its orientation mass to welcome new students, caused “panic and terror” to ensue on campus, Villanova President Rev. Peter Donohue said in a statement to the school community.
The incident caused a large-scale response from local and federal police as officers in tactical gear conducted a sweep of the law school’s Scarpa Hall as students and faculty were ordered to shelter in place.
“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 in a statement to the school community following Thursday’s incident. “While that is a blessing and a relief, I know today’s events have shaken our entire community.”
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said his office and the FBI are investigating Thursday’s incident, adding, “We’re going to work to try to get to the bottom of who might have done this.” There was no immediate response from Stollsteimer’s office following Sunday’s incident.
After Thursday’s incident, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro noted that swatting is illegal and said that he had directed Pennsylvania State Police to “use every tool at our disposal to find the person or people who called in this fake threat and hold them accountable.”
Another unfounded active shooter scare occurred earlier Thursday at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga.
Around 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, a 911 call came in “indicating that there was an active shooter” at the campus, the school said. State, county and federal agencies responded and members of the school community were advised to “Run. Hide. Fight.”
After several areas of the campus were cleared, there was no evidence of any shooting or injuries reported, the university said.
The Chattanooga incident is also under investigation by multiple agencies, including the FBI, the school said.
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