U.S. Villanova University says report of campus shooter was merciless hoax

False reviews of lively shooters at Villanova University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga have led to panic and non permanent lockdowns on the two campuses as they kicked off their fall semesters.

In Pennsylvania somebody known as 911 at about 4:30 p.m. on Thursday (August 21, 2025) reporting a shooter in a Villanova legislation college constructing with not less than one wounded sufferer.

Students acquired texts from the varsity’s alert system saying, “Active Shooter on VU campus. Move to a safe location. Lock/barricade doorways.” The college’s president later stated it was a hoax.

“Today, as we’re celebrating Orientation Mass to welcome our latest Villanovans and their households to our neighborhood, panic and terror ensued,” the Rev Peter M. Donohue stated in an announcement. “Mercifully, nobody was injured and we now comprehend it was a merciless hoax.”

About 4 hours earlier, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga locked down its campus, telling college students: “Possible lively shooter within the University Centre or Library. Run. Hide. Fight. More data forthcoming.” After a number of legislation enforcement businesses, together with the FBI plus native fireplace and emergency crews responded, the lockdown was lifted lower than an hour later. School officers stated there was no proof of any risk.

At Villanova, the place new scholar orientation was underway and lessons start subsequent week, the preliminary report despatched police scouring the campus and even had some legislation enforcement officers suggesting they believed there was a shooter.

“He’s in certainly one of these buildings. Law enforcement for the complete tri-state space is right here. And we’re going door to door, room to room if now we have to, to take this case beneath management and to make this campus secure,” Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer advised WPVI-TV.

At a information convention later, Stollsteimer stated authorities will conduct a full investigation.

“If this was certainly a merciless hoax, this can be a crime,” he stated.

“This is each guardian’s nightmare, proper? You’re sending your child off to school, typically for his or her first day, and also you get an alert that there might be a shooter on the campus,” he stated.

Courtenay Harris Bond was strolling close to the legislation college together with her husband and son, a freshman, when phrase unfold of the supposed capturing.

“Really powerful option to begin freshman 12 months at school,” she stated shortly after being given the all-clear to depart the bookstore the place the household spent the lockdown.

Villanova is a personal Catholic college within the Philadelphia suburbs. It borders Lower Merion Township and Radnor Township on the centre of the town’s rich Main Line neighbourhoods.

The Augustinian college acquired additional consideration this 12 months because the alma mater of latest Pope Leo XIV.