Active shooter report at Villanova was a 'cruel hoax,' university says; students describe chaotic scene

The president of Villanova University said Thursday evening that the report of an active shooter on campus was a “cruel hoax” and that no one was injured.

In a statement to the Villanova community, the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, the university’s president, said the report caused “panic and terror” as students and staff were celebrating Orientation Mass.

“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.

Late Thursday afternoon, police rushed to Villanova University over a report of an active shooter that was later determined to be a hoax, searching for a shooter who did not exist and at one point misidentifying a victim of a gunshot wound who had not been shot, according to police scanner recordings.

Around 4:32 p.m., police broadcasted a warning about “a subject with an automatic rifle” on the Catholic university campus outside Philadelphia. The source of that information was not clear. But a chaotic manhunt soon erupted on the suburban campus.

Within minutes, officers were searching for a 6-foot-tall white male near John F. Scarpa Hall, home to Villanova’s law school.

Thousands of parents, Freshman students, and faculty were sitting in the outdoor Opening Mass for the coming school year when phones started going off and screams of “get down” began to spread through the rows of attendees.

Then came the orders to “run,” said people in attendance.

Amy Germick and her husband, the parents of a freshman, said nobody knew where to go and it wasn't immediately clear what they were ducking and running from. In the chaos, the couple was separated from their son, who ran to a different building than his parents.

As campus learned that the active-shooter scenario was a false alarm, Villanova students, parents, and faculty cautiously emerged from the buildings they had spent the past two hours sheltering within.

Law enforcement vehicles from a host of departments switched off flashing lights, while state troopers silently lowered assault-style weapons from their shoulders.

Learning via email alert that the shooting report had been nothing but a "cruel hoax," some campus community members even cracked an uneasy smile.

Freshman Sam Newlands was sitting in outdoor Mass with his roommate when phones across the lawn began to go off with the text alerts warning of an active shooter.

He and his roommate, who'd experienced a bomb threat before, ran into the nearest building they could get into behind the church and followed directions to barricade themselves.

As Newlands made his way across campus and back to his dorm he tried not to let the hoax ruin his first week of school.

Entire families, clad in Villanova University apparel, some with young children in tow, left the campus shaken, rushing to their cars in a hurry.

“We just want to get out of here,” said one woman who'd been crying.

Youssaf Shah, a post-doctoral student, stood outside Drosdick Hall, hands over his head as police cars left their previously assigned positions blocking incoming and outgoing traffic.

Thursday's active shooter hoax at Villanova University was the result of a "swatting" incident, in which "someone calls in a fake threat to induce panic," Gov. Josh Shapiro said.

"Swatting is illegal," Shapiro said in a statement on social media. "I've directed [Pennsylvania State Police] to work alongside their partners and use every tool at our disposal to find the person or people who called in this fake threat and hold them accountable."

A Villanova spokesperson said that the school's Department of Public Safety received an anonymous report of an active shooter on campus, and after a search, determined it was a hoax. Reports initially indicated there was an active shooter in Scarpa Hall with an automatic rifle, said David Tedjeske, associate vice president of public safety and chief of Villanova's police.